Miilukangas Training Centre, Ulkofantti

The training centre for companies in the building trade and metal industry located on an island off the coast of Raahe is modelled after the old summer cottages and fishing huts found on the island. The chosen approach is an attempt to create harmony out of diversity and apparent chaos.

The Fantti Training Centre is comprised of an old summer house and a new building. The summer house was refurbished for use as sleeping quarters, while the halls and dining areas, sauna area and two bedrooms were located in the new building. Piers and maintenance buildings round out the whole.

The materials of the buildings are simple and workaday; planks coloured with red ochre and a tin roof with long eaves. The wing which contains the meeting rooms and kitchen areas rests on steel beams, on top of posts in an echo of the light beam foundations of boathouses and granaries.

The even red-ochre colouring of the facades permits randomness and is forgiving of the architect’s mistakes, and changes during construction.