Category: observations

During the past few decades, what is now formally known as open building has progressed through several stages. Initially, Open Building constituted a set of speculative principles and aspirations that led to research, followed by a number of built projects in several countries. In the second stage, open building began to be initiated by clients asking for open buildings – certainly in office and retail markets where this practice has long been conventional and unremarkable – but increasingly in housing and healthcare facilities in a number of countries. In the third stage, open building came to be public policy. During all these stages, research (in academia, government and industry) and teaching has continued on a wide range of open building issues – including design methods, finance, technology, and user engagement.

A group of senior citizens formed a housing company and
applied to the City of Helsinki for the right to rent a site in
the new Jätkäsaari area. Jätkäsaari is close to the center of
Helsinki and surrounded by the sea. These kind of initiatives
are highly welcomed by the city. The senior citizens financed
the project by themselves since banks refused to give
mortgage for an unfinished construction of this type. The
housing company hired a project manager and the design
team. First they decided on the common spaces – they
wanted to have more than is usual to apartment buildings.
The architects designed an adaptable building, where the size
of some of the units could be altered. For each unit several
floor plan options were created to act as a starting point for
individual design. Every household met the architect once or
twice and their unit was tailored for them. The building costs
and total costs for the occupants were considerably lower
than the price of condominiums sold in the area

Kaivomäki is situated in the Leppävaara district of Espoo. It is a combination of
sheltered elderly housing and independent small rental units for senior citizens.
In sheltered elderly housing each occupant has a spacious room with bathroom.
Kitchen, dining and living room are common and personnel are present 24/7. The
building is adaptable so that each floor can be either elderly housing or independent
units and changed to the other with renovation. Out of three elderly rooms two
independent units can be made. The spatial structure allows the change also during
use, but ventilation systems were not designed for the change. However, during
design we had to change some floors from one to the other since there was more
demand for independent units. This kind of combined house is new and brings the
benefit that the personnel can also offer services for the senior citizens should they
need them. The project was awarded for the use of color in the facades. (The floor
plan below is with the independent units).

A social housing project situated on a hilltop in the new Viikinmäki residental
area in Helsinki, Finland. The access to most of the apartments is via
semi-private open corridors surrounding a common yard. Each
dwelling has living spaces on both sides of the building, the kitchen
connected to the access corridor with a private glazed veranda
and a patio, the other rooms opening towards the views over
the landscape, with French balconies. The project was awarded
an honorary mention by the City of Helsinki Office of Building
Permits for its innovative concept on a difficult site.