Composition:

The facades, although all different, share the same compositional strategy.  A ground floor of increased story height and material continuity terminated with a continuous band of brown anodised extruded aluminium channels, marks it as both a plinth and piano nobile for the whole ensemble.  A middle body of one of three materials is then finished with a crown of white anodised, extruded aluminium channels.  Through the application of this rigorous contemporary vocabulary the proposal expresses a fascination of a classical ideal in its composition and rhythmic repetition of columns, pillars and arcades.

The dense verticality and slender proportion expressed by the façade and structure, are both inspired by and intended to reflect an experience intrinsically Finnish and close to the nations culture; the glimpsed views and varying perspectives found when walking through the forrest.  Rauduskoivu, the silver birch tree, the ubiquitous deciduous found throughout the country, surrounding many lakes and populating many forests, is the national tree and a symbol of the nations close ties with nature.  ‘Koivu ja Tahti’ by Sakari Topelins also identifies it a symbol of the countries’ struggles for independence which seem to make it an appropriate influence for this celebratory project on the anniversary of independence.  The influence of this idea on the design runs beyond the spatial proposal and through to the materials and colours.  The palette found in the forest, particularly that of Rauduskoivu, of silver - white and rich brown, colour the walls, the floors and ceiling and are expressed externally in the plinth banding of the piano nobile at a height evoking the canopy of the forest.