Kayakas!

They have a lot of wood in Finland, and a lot of very talented modernist architects to use it. The FMO (Finnforest Modular Office) Tapiola Building, winner of Finland”s top wood design award, is built from sustainably harvested wood, prefabricated in modular elements. - the facade is made from 1200 factory produced parts combined with 17,000 individually machined wooden parts. Says structural engineer Jukka Ala-Ojala:“The wooden structures are complicated and as wooden technology has not been used to this extent before, it has been a steep learning curve for the whole team One particular achievement was convincing the authorities that the building would meet the stringent European safety codes.With no previous experience of such a complicated wooden structure in office construction, they were particularly concerned about the fire risk.” Pekka Helin, the primary architect, is confident about the popularity of wood in modern projects: “A modern wooden office building shows how wood can meet today’s architectural demands for more ‘human’ and environmentally-friendly structures. I see a bright international future for such buildings as the wood renaissance continues. ” ::Finnforest