News / Pavilion at the heart of the Design Capital
30.04.2012
At the heart of open Helsinki is the Pavilion, designed at Aalto University's Wood Program and a stunning example of sustainable architecture. There are hundreds of reasons to visit this summer: exhibitions, lectures, a working space, a dance floor, cafe, and rather a lot more.
Whatever Helsinki residents and visitors to the capital end up doing there, it's clear that the Pavilion is driven by next-generation thinking in social architecture. As an open-air space, it welcomes in passers-by and encourages a leisurely use of time. Says Aalto student Jussi Partanen, “The most challenging and appealing aspect of the task has been to discover a meaning and an expression to the lot between the museums. My main goal is to come up with a proposal that inspires discussion.”
Everything from the materials to the food in the cafe gives a nod to the principles of sustainability, and revels in the attitude that eco-friendly and responsible design can also be appealing to industry. UPM, the Finnish biofore (bio + forest) company behind the material supply, is equally keen to be a part of something that energises and entertains the public - not to mention garners international attention.
105 days of events
The program, which can be found here, will feature discussions, debates, panels, and events on everything from entrepreneurship to art. One of Aalto's own events, Arts Exposed!, is a busy two-day art sale with works by the students and alumni of Aalto School of Arts, Design and Architecture (formerly TaiK), which will take over the Pavilion on May 26th and 27th.
The architecture is based on the winning design of Pyry-Pekka Kantonen selected in the spring of 2011. The Pavilion is realised by WDC Helsinki 2012 in collaboration with Aalto University, the Museum of Finnish Architeture, the Design Museum and UPM. The programme is coordinated by Demos Helsinki.
The Pavilion site at WDC: http://wdchelsinki2012.fi/en/pavilion
