Finnforest's Aurinkorinne wins Wood Award for 2004

04/10/2004

Finnforest Corporation, Skanska and the City of Espoo were the joint recipients
of this year's Wood Award for the Aurinkorinne building project in the Friisilä
district of Espoo. 

Puuinformaatio ry, an association that promotes the use of timber, annually
awards a project, which represents the highest quality in wood architecture,
utilises timber in its interior design in an exemplary fashion or makes
significant advances in wood-building techniques. The award was launched in
1994 and  the period since then has seen enormous developments in Finnish
wood-building techniques and an expansion of their application to new areas.
The list of earlier recipients gives some indication of the diverse ways in
which wood is used today: the Metsola primary school in Helsinki, the main
building of the Kylmäluoma camping grounds in Taivalkoski, wooden multi-storey
houses in the Viikki district of north Helsinki, the Vihantasalmi wooden bridge
in Mäntyharju, the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, the Kierikki Stone Age Centre in
Yli-Ii and the Puu-Linnanmaa residential area in Oulu. 

Ten building locations were short-listed for the 2004 Wood Award. They
represented a diverse selection of new Finnish wood architecture and innovative
construction techniques. Due to the variety, the jury decided to make an
exception and this year gave the award to two projects. The other winner is the
Laajasalo Church in east Helsinki. The two represent totally different building
sectors: public, sacral architecture and modern residential design. 

The jury's permanent members are Puuinformaatio Managing Director, Architect
SAFA Mikko Viljakainen, Pertti Hämäläinen, M.Sc., from Wood Focus Oy and
Architect SAFA Pekka Heikkinen. Architect SAFA Jussi Vepsäläinen is the jury's
secretary. Architect Hermann Kaufmann, who is the Professor of wood
architecture at the Technical University of Munich, was a visiting member of
the jury. 

The firm of architects Juha Kronlöf & Pauliina Vihinen designed the
Aurinkorinne project. It is a modern, urban area of small residential houses.
In addition to wooden structural elements, the houses utilise highly-processed
wood-based materials in both their interiors and in exterior cladding. There
are 24 houses in the development and their floor areas range from 115 to 146
square metres. The construction mode was industrial in nature. 

Urban areas of small-scale houses are a new concept in Finland and the Friisilä
project, which was started in 2001 and completed last spring, was a pioneering
venture. Moving from multi-storey buildings to small-scale area developments is
a major challenge for construction companies and an excellent opportunity for
the wood products industry. Success requires that large corporations and small
and medium enterprises in the wood products sector form effective networks. 

Finnforest implemented the project in cooperation with the City of Espoo and
Skanska. The venture was also guided by a development group, which comprised
representatives of the Helsinki University of Technology, the National
Technology Agency of Finland and the Technical Research Centre of Finland,
among others. The project indicated that the selected cooperative approach was
correct and that it is possible to significantly increase the turnover
generated from wood by shifting to the supply of component products, which
incorporate design, logistics and installation services into products. The
projections about the future prospects for the building sector made at the time
of the launch of the project have proved on the mark. The construction of
small-scale houses is increasing rapidly and wood products have a strong share
of that market. 

Additional information: Finnforest Corporation, Construction Director Lauri
Palojärvi, tel. +358 500 507 447