OOPEAA has won the 2015 Finlandia Prize for Architecture with Puukuokka – the tallest wooden apartment block in Finland and a single of the initial higher-rise examples of prefabricated cross-laminated timber development in the planet.
Finished earlier this 12 months in the Jyväskylä suburb of Kuokkala, the eight-storey apartment building was developed from prefabricated modules of cross-laminated timber (CLT), which studio founder Anssi Lassila mentioned had been “plugged in like Lego pieces”.
Puukuokka by OOPEAA is Finland’s first higher-rise wooden apartment developing
These light-weight modules offer the building’s main structural framework. In contrast with common concrete constructions, they can be set up in half the time, with far fewer delays triggered by weather.
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Puukuokka gets the second winner of the Finlandia Prize for Architecture, which recognises the very best new creating either in Finland or by a Finnish architect.
It was selected by composer Kaija Saariaho, who described it as “a creating that I felt most comfortable in with all my senses”.
“I chose Puukuokka as the winner due to the fact it demonstrates values that I enjoy in daily life as effectively as in architecture: it is a courageous and ambitious perform that brings with each other an exploration of new prospects for creating and building, a humane sensibility, and a quest for ecological answers as effectively as a strive in direction of greater good quality of lifestyle,” she mentioned.
OOPEAA was awarded the prize today at a ceremony at the Media Centre Lume in Helsinki.
The firm saw off competitors from 4 other shortlisted buildings: Kangasala Arts Centre by Heikkinen-Komonen Architects OP Financial Group Headquarters by JKMM Architects Merenkulkijanranta residential block by NRT Architects and Opinmäki School by Arkkitehtitoimisto Esa Ruskeepää Oy.
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Formerly recognized as Lassila Hirvilammi Architects, OOPEAA has offices in Seinäjoki and Helsinki. Past projects by the studio incorporate the slate-clad Kuokkala Church in Jyväskylä and the wooden Property Riihi in Ostrobothnia.
The prize was launched by the Finnish Association of Architects in 2014 to market the value of high-good quality architecture.
The first winner was the Museum of the History of Polish Jews in Warsaw, Poland, by Helsinki firm Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.
