Jaakko Torvinen and Elli Wendelin: W * Next Generation 2022
Jaakko Torvinen and Elli Wendelin are planning a wooden building to be moved
Our Next Generation 2022 presentation highlights 22 outstanding graduates from around the world. Here we profile Jaakko Torvinen and Elli Wendel, graduates of the Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture.
Pikku-Finlandia started as a student competition in 2019 at the Aalto University School of Art, Design and Architecture, but changed much more quickly and was finally realized and built as part of a three-part thesis. Its authors Elli Wendelin and Jaakko Torvinen collaborated on this impressive work “Part I: From Finlandia Forest to Little Finland – Designing a Transportable Wooden Building”.
Pikku-Finlandia (“Pikku Finlandia”) is located in Töölönlahti, Helsinki. The Finlandia Hall (an iconic building designed by the famous Finnish architect Alvar Aalto) to be renovated between 2022 and 2025 is planned to host an event and meeting space. The original concept of the project has been developed by students Jaakko. Torvinen, Elli Wendelin, Havu Järvelä and Stine Pedersen in collaboration with their professors Pekka Heikkinen and Arkkitehdit Arkkitehdit NRT Oy. The building is to be demolished and rebuilt elsewhere after that. ‘[It could be] for example, a training facility elsewhere in Helsinki for at least 30 years, ”the team suggests.
Its 95 pine trunk pillars were hand-picked from the forests of Loviisa, southern Finland. Torvinen was interested in getting to know the principles of reversible building design through this project: “My goal was to plan how Pikku-Finlandia can be dismantled and transported to the next place in Helsinki, for example as a school or kindergarten.”
Wendelin adds: “I was initially interested in the life cycle effects of a wooden building, and the temporary nature of the Pikku-Finlandia case provided an interesting perspective for the study.”
Two of the graduates share an ethos of design rooted in sensitivity to environmental issues. Wendelin hopes to work with designers who value ecological sustainability. “I think carbon footprint assessment should become an integral part of architectural design decision-making in any country or practice,” he says.
Torvinen adds: “I would like to change the thinking of architecture from static to dynamic. It should be seen as a flexible and changing process.
Today, both Wendel and Torvinen work as architects in Helsinki, and the latter also teaches at Aalto University’s School of Arts, Design and Architecture.
Dream Partners: Kunlé Adeyemi and Francis Please §
