Puotilan Pehtoori Housing Association

The Pehtoori housing development is situated beside the Puotila seaside park and manor house. The chief planning regulation issued for the site was to blend with the surrounding 1800’s manor house milieu.

The cross-sectional form of the buildings was taken from the neighbouring 1950’s blocks of flats and the colour scheme from the manor house itself. The balconies and entrances are situated on the yard side and the outer perimeter of the site has been left simple and undisturbed in keeping with the practice of old Finnish wooden towns.

The terraced house located on the north side and the car shelters situated in the north-eastern corner of the site provide the yard area with shelter from cold winds. Between the semi-detached houses on the south side the site opens out to the direction of incoming warmer winds. In addition to a terrace, each apartment has its own yard area.

The houses were built from prefabricated elements using the platform technique, with the assembled elements hoisted into place by crane. The roof and roof covering were assembled down to the guttering at ground level and lifted into place using a 10 tonne truck-mounted crane. The contractor’s improvisations in these respects proved highly successful.

The houses are cladded in fine-sawn board treated with petroleum oil paint. The rebated joint panels are A4 grade spruce. The rebated cladding technique provides effective shielding of the lower boards at the joint. The facades are complemented with sheet steel cladding of the windows and vertical bars on the balconies.

The site adjoins the park area on three sides, and virtually every apartment offers a view beyond the park to the glimmering waters of Puotilanlahti bay.

The Pehtoori development was awarded the City of Helsinki Rose Award for Construction in 2006.