Puukivistö
“Kolmen kerroksen väkeä”, Upstairs – Downstairs, Living Together on Three Levels, the proposal by OOPEAA and Lundén Architecture Company wins the design and build competition for an apartment block in the new district of wooden housing in Kivistö, Vantaa in the Helsinki metropolitan area. The proposal is to be realized in collaboration with Reponen Oy as the contractor and Taaleri Vuokrakoti Ky as the developer with the design phaze to start immediately in September 2018.
The competition for new wooden housing in Kivistö was organized by the City of Vantaa. The decision to create a new wooden housing district in Kivistö is part of the commitment by the city to promote construction in wood in order to provide climate conscious development of housing. The goal is to provide a comprehensive housing offer to satisfy the needs of the diverse population in the fast growing newly developing areas in Vantaa in a way that supports a sense of community for citizens committed to ecological values and green spaces. The competition brief also asked to address the needs of bicycling, traffic safety and the inclusion of art as part of the identity of the neighborhood.
The competition asked for joint entries with two architecture offices, a contractor and a developer for one or both of the two plots allocated for the competition in the Kivistö area which is currently under planning. The minimum required gross floor area for each of the two plots is 7 500 m2, with a total of 15 000 m2 for the two plots together.
Among the many interesting and highly qualified proposals, the entry by OOPEAA and Lundén Architecture Company, Upstairs – Downstairs, Living Together on Three Levels, was chosen as the winner for the plot number two. The proposal takes as its starting point the dual character of the location of the site. One the one hand, located next to a small forest area with a rare population of flying squirrels living in it, the site offers a connection to nature. On the other hand, the adjacent ring rail station serving the area just 500 meters aways makes the neighborhood easily accessible. The winning entry by OOPEAA and Lundén Architecture Company proposes a multifaceted block of wooden apartment housing with an active street level, a multiplicity of communal green spaces both in the inner court yard as well as on the roof terraces of the complex, and a well balanced mix of a variety of different types of apartments ranging from relatively narrow two-story town-house-like apartments to duplexes with individual access directly from the street on the ground level, to apartments with a belt of balconies on the third and fourth floors, and to family size apartments with terraced balconies on the top floors.
Each apartment has its own individual temperature control with access for maintenance in the hallway, and special attention has been paid to the design of balconies in order to make sure that the apartments have a good balance of light and shade to provide for an ideal living environment. On the green roofs there are photo voltaic panels to provide energy, and the landscaping of the yard supports the collection of storm water and allows for recycling of the water for the maintenance of the greenery in the block. A special bridge provides a connection between the block and the small forested area next to it.
Wood is used as a prominent material in the block. The facade facing the street is of charred wood giving it a dark color while on the interior courtyard side the color palette is of lighter shade with accents of orange, yellow and red.