Puupalkinto (Wood Award) is given to a building, a decoration or a structure that represents the high-quality Finnish wood architecture or where wood has been used in an innovative way. The award is organized by Puuinfo (the Finnish Timber Council) since 1994.
The award will be announced on Wood Day / Puupäivä 30th of November in Helsinki.
The shortlist includes several projects using Metsä Wood’s Kerto® LVL (laminated veneer lumber) as building material.
Auditorium in Metsätapiola
Image by Marc Goodwin.
Helin & co. Architects was asked to design a new, larger auditorium for the Metsä Group and MELA head office. Because of the plot, the options were extremely limited. After considering numerous alternatives, a floor sloping to a wide fan design was chosen. The benefit is good contact with and proximity to the audience.
Kerto® LVL products were used in framing and the roof was built with Kerto® LVL elements. Also Metsä Wood’s Birch Ply was used for the interior surfaces.
Read more: http://www.woodarchitecture.fi/projects/auditorium-metsa-group-and-mela-main-office
Honkasuo wood apartment buildings
Image by Kimmo Räisänen.
Helsinki now has its first passive wood apartment buildings, which were built for the new residential district of Honkasuo. The two plots, bordered by parks, now house two four-storey and two three-storey apartment buildings, and a wood row house and outdoor equipment storage on each plot. The project, designed by Vuorelma Arkkitehdit Oy, included a total of 116 new apartments.
The apartment buildings of the initial block in Honkasuo were mostly built using Finnish softwoods. The exterior walls, floors, roofs, balconies and lift shafts all have wood structures. Kerto® LVL was used in the intermediate floor elements.
Read more: http://www.woodarchitecture.fi/projects/honkasuo-wood-apartment-buildings
Kokoon house
Image by Aalto University, Wood Program.
Kokoon house, by the Wood Program Studio at Aalto University School of Arts Design and Architecture, is a solution for temporary housing in urban and sub-urban context. Kokoon is a system of pre-fabricated and transportable housing modules, for stacking into a larger configuration of living units.
In the summer 2016 the house was exhibited in the yard of the Architecture and Design museums in Helsinki city centre, and also this autumn at the Flow festival in Helsinki.
The load-bearing structure is made from Kerto® LVL and it is also left visible in the interior.
Read more: http://kokoon.squarespace.com/home-1/