Omenamäki and Keltakanelinaukio

This development consists of three blocks of flats built in timber, some terraced housing and an indoor car park. The renovated brick-built warehouses tell us something about the area’s industrial heritage and the protected shield-bark pine trees tell us about the natural surroundings.

The three and four-storey buildings are constructed in timber from the load-bearing structures upwards. The long sides of the buildings and the staircase walls are load-bearing so that the building consists of an open space 6.2 metres x 23.4 metres, which can be divided up into separate rooms. At each end of the buildings there are spaces that can be used as rooms for different flats. Systematic ducts have been reserved for the building services, and this permits variation in the flats.

The external walls, cladding and compartment walls are all built in timber elements, and the intermediate floors are in a combination construction of timber trusses and concrete. Concrete has been used in the car park and staircases to stiffen the structure.

The flats are equipped with sprinklers, i.e. an automatic extinguishing system for 3/4-storey residential blocks. Special attention has been paid to the sound insulation of the structure and both measurements and residents’ feedback show that better sound insulation has been achieved than is called for by the Building Code.

The aims of the project were to design a block of flats that would allow for variation, take the repair cycle into account and remain functional throughout its life cycle. Furthermore, an innovative separate support system was developed for horizontal timber structures.