Aurinkorinne, Friisilä’s detached housing

Aurinkorinne’s block of detached housing is located 15 kilometres from downtown Helsinki on an ideal plot of land that slopes to the southwest. The solution for the block is based on narrow, back-to-back houses that are on their own plots of land. The building masses consist of two slope-roofed sections.

The basic idea for the residences was that everything should be on one level and that an individualistic home was created for each family. The immediate surroundings around the buildings are built to a high level and they are divided into various spaces according to their level of privacy. The service yard has covered parking spaces and a storage area. Behind the wooden lattices, there is a rock garden and on the side where the yard is located, there is a greenhouse and a terrace that can be accessed from both the sauna area and the kitchen. The houses are connected to each other by spaces that the resident can choose to be a combination of a greenhouse, a storage area, a pergola or a work and hobby room.

The living rooms of the residences open up onto the garden through their large windows. The windows are placed so that sunlight can be used in the different spaces of the residence throughout the day. The slanting ceiling adds to the interior’s spaciousness and character.

The structures of the buildings are made of wood and are, for the most part, pre-fabricated units. The long eaves and the high plinths protect the façades, which are clad in varnished 300 x 27 mm glulam boards as well as various types of battening and panels. The roof is made of LVL and the underside of the eaves is made of plywood. The terraces are made of wood and a lot of white-lacquered wooden panels were used in the internal cladding.

Planning the block was challenging, from a fire safety point of view. The fire-rated outer walls on the border of the plots of lands were realised as wooden double walls that are structurally separated from each other. The structure of the eaves is tightly fire-clad from its underside all the way to its gutter.

The area has 24 residences and the gross floor area is 3,770 sq.m. The plot is 600 sq.m. and its plot density is 0.25. Its realisation is based on the architectural competition arranged by the City of Espoo, the construction firm Skanska and Finnforest Corporation in summer 2001.