Nuuksio Nature Centre to showcase Finnish nature and wood architecture

Nuuksio in Espoo will become home to a new forum of cultural and nature activities in 2012, the year of World Design Capital Helsinki. A new Nature Centre will offer a window to Finnish nature and showcase today’s ecological Finnish wood architecture at this wilderness site only 40 kilometres from the Helsinki City Centre.

 

Built adjacent to the Solvalla Sports Institute and on a lake, the Nature Centre will open views into the magnificent Nuuksio National Park. The Centre will house galleries, a library, an auditorium, a restaurant, classrooms, a nature shop, camping equipment rental, and customer service facilities. The Centre is estimated to attract 150,000 visitors per year.

 

The Centre’s activities will be strongly supported by the building’s architectural design. Ecology is promoted by versatility and building technologies that help to keep the Centre’s carbon footprint low, including geothermal heating and utilization of solar energy.

 

“The building’s architecture reflects our characteristic close relationship to nature in Finland and care for the environment. The design complies with the terms dictated by wood, which is a fascinating and challenging material, as well as with the location. The building will be a flexible venue for exhibitions. It will be an abstract sculpture, but its forms will hopefully evoke many favourable associations. The design has many layers,” says the building’s architect, Professor Rainer Mahlamäki of Lahdelma & Mahlamäki Architects.

 

 

World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 is a partner in the Nature Centre project, and design will be part of the Centre’s activities in 2012.

 

Pekka Timonen, who directs the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 project, describes the Nature Centre as one of the Design Year’s spearhead projects. “The Nature Centre is an excellent match to the Open City philosophy promoted by our World Design Capital project,” Timonen says. “Architecture and design are in central roles in the Nature Centre. Finnish design has always been inspired by nature.”

 

The Nature Centre is developed by Nuuksiokeskus, a company owned by the City of Espoo and the Solvalla Sports Institute. The Centre’s operations will be managed by the Finnish nature administration Metsähallitus.