KANKAAN SUVANTO

 

Location: Jyväskylä, Finland

Year: 2022 – 2024

Status: Competition. 1st prize. Completed.

Program: Urban plan, housing

Client: City of Jyväskylä

Area: 27 300 m2

 

In collaboration with architect Simon Mahringer.

 

The City of Jyväskylä organised an open architecture competition to find urban planning solutions for developing area of Kangas. The masterplanning in the area is based on a series of architectural competitions. The latest competition sought for designs concerning the northernmost part of the area, in immediate vicinity of Tourujoki and a historic functionalist building “The White House”.

 

The area needs to facilitate a considerable amount of new housing and parking facilities. The main objective in the competitions was to tackle the placement of the new construction into a prestigious natural setting. The new housing buildings needed to find their place as a continuum of the recent developments in Kangas, while adapting to the existing topography and the neighbourhoods in the north and west, both in terms of scale and granularity.

 

The proposed design is explicitly urban in its approach. The new building volume is realized as two urban courtyard blocks. The blocks consist of a earthen pedestal level of four stories, adapting the scale and shape to the surrounding topography and pedestrian areas, while providing ample sunlight to the common courtyards. On top of the pedestals, there are green roofs and terraces, as well as separate light coloured building volumes.

 

The shape of the proposed urban block takes cues from the irregular shape of the specific site. The outcome is organic flexibility. The shape is realized within a set of clear functional principles, creating a logical and coherent whole, while corresponding to its setting fluently.