TUMBLING DICE | E13 Special Mention
Europan 13 - Espoo, Finland
Authors: Guiomar Martín + Javier de Esteban
Contributors: Ana Sabugo, Jimena Alonso, José Manuel de Andrés, Miriam Martín
Otaniemi has preserved much of Aalto’s modern dream: a green territory sprinkled by built volumes freed from the dense urban fabric of old European cities, where the void is not anymore ‘concave’ as Camillo Sitte had praised but ‘convex’, as Le Corbusier claimed. This city of objects seems to find a fair balance between the shapes of nature and the artificial world but it often neglects the articulation of recognisable public spaces between scattered buildings.
Our proposal revisits modern urbanism through this precise handicap. The housing units rise as isolated volumes and recognise their artificial condition through a pure, squared shape. Yet, they are grouped into strategic clusters, connected by an open-air platform that provides a symbolic and physical place for casual and planned gathering. This peculiar spatial framework –only partly confined and yet strongly present– inserts traditional urban values into the modern equation and calls for a further reframing of today’s urban collectivity.
Like a clever dice game, these pieces move away from the shore to fit into forest clearings, building up an intermittent brick and wooden backdrop that emerge subtly behind reeds and trees, arousing the curiosity of Laajalahti hikers. The platforms are slightly elevated, protecting buildings from floods, allowing the natural soil to flow beneath and being pierced by existing trees. Each rooftop is transformed into a ‘shared resources booster’, actively used throughout the year. All housing typologies are interchangeable thanks to their fixed & flexible band scheme. Likewise, the overall project can either grow or shrink according to changing needs, thanks to its intrinsic serial coherence.
