Little Finlandia

Pikku-Finlandia studio, Aalto University

Year: 2022
Category: Commercial · Pop-Ups and Temporary
Type: Commercial
Status: Built
Firm: Pikku-Finlandia studio, Aalto University
Location: Helsinki, Finland

Pikku-Finlandia (in English Little Finlandia) is a 2700 m2 wooden temporary event facility in central Helsinki to replace Finlandia Hall, the landmark building by Alvar Aalto, during its three-year renovation. Pikku-Finlandia’s most impressive feature and a key design element is the 95 Scots pine columns. Another remarkable feature is that it is made from modules to be disassembled and moved to the next place to be built again when it is not needed at the first site anymore. Building is designed by architects Jaakko Torvinen, Elli Wendelin and Havu Järvelä from Aalto University Pikku-Finlandia studio, in collaboration with Architects NRT and professor, architect Pekka Heikkinen.

The project was organised by Aalto University, the City of Helsinki and the Finlandia Hall in fall 2019. It began with a graduate-level joint design studio of Wood Program and Building Design held at the Aalto University Department of Architecture. During one semester at a double studio course, 18 students developed individual design proposals for the temporary building. At the conclusion of the term, the proposal by student Jaakko Torvinen entitled “Finlandia Forest” was chosen as the basis for construction.

The winning design was inspired by a Finnish boreal forest with views through trees. Whole untrimmed tree trunks serving as load-bearing columns create forest-like atmosphere, while the design utilises nature’s own design and so reduces processing. Building is designed for disassembly and it’s made from wood. It was constructed from volumetric units which are made from whole timber, massive CLT (cross laminated timber) panels, wooden hollow-core roof elements and glue laminated beams. The main contractor was wooden prefabricated element manufacturer FM-Haus Oy.

Following the renovation, the building is to be disassembled and moved to a new location. Pikku-Finlandia will later continue life for example as a school or day-care centre for at least the next 50 years. All joints are designed and implemented so that they are visible if possible and can be opened. The whole trees of the Pikku-Finlandia are the tip logs of the Scots pine’s. Tip logs has lot of branches and are generally seen as poor building material and are therefore used for paper production or as energy wood.

In this case, by not sawing the logs, but by keeping the wooden structure intact, the trees became long-term load-bearing parts of the building. By using whole trees and designing the joints as simple as possible, energy was saved in their production. The trees were peeled with a high-pressure washer and cut to correct length. The trees were installed in the modules at the house factory and are structural part of the modules. The building was completed in early 2022 and will be disassembled, moved and built at the next location in 2025.

Photos: Mikael Linden, Kimmo Räisänen, Mika Pollari, Finlandia Hall