Low2No Sustainable Development Initiative Moves to Implementation Phase

Helsinki’s Jätkäsaari area will be home to Finland’s first low- or no-carbon suburb. The winner of an international design competition has been announced. The winner is the international team ARUP/Sauerbruch Hutton/Experientia/Gally Eco Capital, with their entry “c_life, City as a Living Factory of Ecology”. By the deadline in May 2009, 74 teams had entered the competition, and the winner was selected from among five finalists at the beginning of September. Low2No is a joint project by Sitra, the Finnish Innovation Fund, and the City of Helsinki, launched to find approaches for sustainable building practices. An international Sustainable Development Design Competition was announced to indentify the best teams to design a large building complex in Jätkäsaari, a former cargo harbour site at the western edge of Helsinki’s central business district. The Jätkäsaari development comes in the wake of the move of cargo harbour operations from central city sites to a new site in eastern Helsinki in late 2008, which freed vast areas of land for new uses including housing, commerce and services. The design competition sought to find the best approaches in four main areas, applicable to urban settings: (1) energy efficiency, (2) low or no carbon emissions, (3) high value from architectural, spatial and social perspectives and (4) sustainable materials and methods. According to the international jury, the winning team approached the task from a broad perspective, considering the sweeping changes needed to achieve sustainable development, where people and lifestyles play key roles. In addition, the team presented a financial model for turning Jätkäsaari into a no-carbon suburb. Sitra will also continue cooperation with the other four finalist teams. Their entries recommended use of broad-ranging sustainability assessment tools, comprehensive application of district heating, utilization of solar and wind power and solar thermal applications, and even utilization of waste heat from the passenger ships and ferries that visit Jätkäsaari’s remaining harbour facilities. Low2No [1] [1] http://www.low2no.org/now/c_life/