; yet perhaps the most amazing thing about it is that Pikku-Finlandia was born as a bold student thesis. submitted a student competition entry at the Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture for a transportable wooden building to serve as an event and restaurant space that would temporarily replace Finlandia Hall while it was being restored. Their project was announced the winner and is now realised as Pikku-Finlandia.
The 2,300 sq m multipurpose building has a capacity of 200-400 people and consists of a single floor hosting a café, four halls and a cabinet. The design is flexible and modular, and the halls can be connected to form larger spaces for events and catering as needed. One of the four halls, Kelo Hall opens to a bright lobby, its long glass façade highlighting views from inside towards the landscape of Töölönlahti bay.
Wendelin and Torvinen collaborated on their thesis, and titled it ‘From Finlandia Forest to Pikku-Finlandia – design for a transportable wooden building’. Wendelin focused on the carbon footprint of the building, as a transportable structure, and the lifecycle of the pine wood. Torvinen researched efficient and accessible ways of disassembling the structure in future through principles of reverse building design.
Initially created by Torvinen, the design concept was further developed alongside fellow students Wendelin, Havu Järvelä and Stine Pedersen. After the concept was chosen to be realised, members of the team continued working on the design in collaboration with Helsinki-based architecture firm Arkkitehdit NRT Oy, and Heikkinen.
Pikku-Finlandia can, and will, be transported to a new location once the renovations in Finlandia Hall are completed by 2025. The striking, yet relatively modest piece of eco-friendly architecture is designed to be dismantled, rebuilt, repurposed and eventually recycled. As a multipurpose space, it can be used as an educational venue, for example, visiting other parts of Helsinki or Finland in the next 30 years, which is its estimated life span.