Nuuksio Nature Centre - a unique showcase of Finnish nature and wood architecture

A Nature Centre managed by Metsähallitus, which will serve as an arena for nature-related and cultural activities, is to be built at Nuuksio National Park in Espoo, Finland, for 2012, World Design Capital Helsinki year. The drawings for the Nature Centre, whose unique architecture is modern, multi-layered and ecological, were published on 10th June. A partnership between the Nature Centre and the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project was also announced at the publication.

“The Centre’s architecture reflects the special relationship that Finns have with nature and their care for the environment. The building was designed on the terms dictated by the fascinating and at the same time challenging material - wood - and by the location, forming a flexible framework for exhibitions. It is an abstract sculpture, but at the same time its forms will hopefully evoke many positive images. The architecture embodies a layered approach,” says the building’s designer, Professor Rainer Mahlamäki of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.

“At the core of the exhibition space is an erratic boulder, the boulder familiar to Finns from the Seven Brothers, a novel by Aleksis Kivi, Finland’s national author; it can also be interpreted as the egg of the golden-eye duck from the mythology of the Finnish Kalevala saga, signifying the birth of the world, or as the globe surrounded by space. The building’s external form is softly curving but the interior hides a precise grid pattern that draws both on Japanese tradition and on the Finnish log jointing technique. We have worked hard to ensure that the Centre on its steeply sloping plot fits into its environment as neatly as a bird’s nest into a tree branch,” Mahlamäki comments.

The Nature Centre with its views of Lake Pitkäjärvi and the surrounding forests comprises several interesting spaces. The architecture is strongly supportive of the Centre’s activities, and its multifunctionality is an essential feature of the Centre’s ecological approach. The technological solutions used for building services are also progressive in ecological terms. The building’s carbon footprint is to be kept as light as possible, and the main source of energy will be geothermal heating, supplemented by solar energy.

Design and nature join forces

A cooperation project involving World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 and the Nuuksio Nature Centre was announced on 10th June. Design will play an important role in the Nature Centre’s activities during the year, and the City of Espoo is also part of the urban complex involved in the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project.

“The new Nature Centre will be a perfect answer to the ’Open City’ philosophy promoted by the world design capital project. Architecture and design play a key role in the Centre, and nature has always been an important influence in Finnish design,” says World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project director Pekka Timonen.

“The Nature Centre to be built in Nuuksio is Espoo’s most important contribution to the Design Capital year,” states Espoo’s City Manager Marketta Kokkonen. The City is participating in financing the Centre and is responsible for the required infrastructure, including the construction of streets and a light traffic route. “Together with Solvalla Sports Institute the Nature Centre will provide a venue for outdoor recreation that complies with the principle of sustainable development and can also be integrated into the school curriculum,” Kokkonen adds.

The flagship of Finnish National Parks

The Nature Centre to be built in Nuuksio is the flagship of Finnish national parks. It will present the entire spectrum of Finland’s natural environment to hikers, tourists from Finland or abroad, corporate guests and visiting foreign dignitaries. Nuuksiokeskus Oy, a company owned jointly by Metsähallitus, the City of Espoo and Solvalla Sports Institute, will be in charge of developing the Nature Centre. The Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services division is responsible for managing all 35 national parks and the 24 visitor and nature centres in Finland.

For further information:

Nuuksio National Park:

• Situated in the municipalities of Vihti, Espoo and Kirkkonummi, total area 45 km2.
• Established in 1994.
• The area is managed by Metsähallitus Nature Heritage Services.
• Forms the westernmost part of the Nuuksio lake uplands, which is the most extensive and ecologically important continuous wilderness area in the Uusimaa region of southern Finland.
• Dozens of threatened or near-threatened species of fauna, flora and fungi.
• Part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area’s green belt, begins at Sipoonkorpi-Östersundom in the east and curves round via Petikko, the Nuuksio lake uplands and Meikonsalo to Cape Porkkalanniemi and the nearby islands in the west, offering a breathing space for residents and nature alike.
• For more information, please go to Nuuksio National Park (www.outdoors.fi/nuuksionp)

Visual material:

• Print-quality conceptual
images available for the press (www.metsa.fi, in Finnish)
• A video interview (in Finnish) with Professor Rainer Mahlamäki is available on YouTube (www.youtube.com).

Background information for journalists:

Nature Centre to be built at Nuuksio

• A centre for information, exhibitions and events and a window on Finnish nature, managed by Metsähallitus.
• A flagship site showcasing contemporary, ecological Finnish wood construction.
• Designed by Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.
• Gross area 3850 m2, exhibition space 800 m2. Exhibitions on Finnish nature and the green belt surrounding the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. Also on changing themes.
• Visitor target 150,000 visitors annually, a significant proportion of the visitors from outside Finland.
• Space e.g. for exhibitions, a reference library, auditorium, restaurant, classrooms, nature shop, Metsähallitus customer service point and camping/hiking equipment hire.
• To be completed for 2012, adjacent to Solvalla Sports Institute, on the shore of Lake Pitkäjärvi, in Nuuksio.
• The company responsible for developing the Centre is Nuuksiokeskus Oy, owned by Metsähallitus, the City of Espoo and Solvalla Sports Institute. Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services are responsible for activities, partnered by World Design Capital Helsinki 2012.
• For more information (www.metsa.fi/nuuksiokeskus, in Finnish)

Nature tourism in Finland’s national parks

• Altogether 35 national parks, all managed by Metsähallitus Natural Heritage Services.
• Almost two million visitors in 2009. In recent years the number has increased by about 3% annually.
• The most popular parks (by number of visitors in 2009): Pallas-Yllästunturi (419,000), Urho Kekkonen (289,000), Nuuksio (179,500), Oulanka (165,500) and Pyhä-Luosto (128,000) National Parks.
• The total revenue effect of money spent by visitors EUR 70.1 million and employment effect 893 person work years annually (method of calculation developed by Metsähallitus and the Finnish Forest Research Institute (Metla); data from the years 2005 - 2009; figures for person work years do not include Metsähallitus personnel). In the most popular national parks, the money spent by visitors brings the local region EUR 20 for every euro invested in the Park’s service structures.
• For more information, please go to: National Parks are Finland's Natural Treasures (www.metsa.fi)

World Design Capital Helsinki 2012

• Seeks out the best solutions for better urban living and sees the philosophy of design, planning and industrial design as a whole that is independent of raw materials, technologies, ideologies or materials.
• Offers events, projects and encounters as a cooperative project involving five cities (Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti) around a common theme: the role of design in building a better city. Events will also be held worldwide.
• The World Design Capital is designated biennially by the International Council of Societies of Industrial Design, Icsid. Helsinki follows in the footsteps of Turin, Italy, (2008) and Seoul, South Korea, (2010) as World Design Capital
• For more information, please go to World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 (www.wdc2012helsinki.fi)

Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects

• Founded in 1997.
• Previous design projects include Lusto, Finnish Forest Museum and Forest Science Centre, Punkaharju (1994), Kaustinen Folk Art Centre (1997), Public Library, Lohja (2006), offices of the Finnish Food Safety Authority EVIRA, Helsinki (2006), Maritime Centre Vellamo, Kotka (2008) and the Museum of the History of Polish Jews, Warsaw, Poland (2012).
• For more information, please go to Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects (www.arklm.fi)