Koivusaari
GFA=431.453m2
Kavusaari Island is a reaction to Helsinki’s ostensibly growing suburban periphery, lacking in programmatic diversity and the purity of the natural landscape.
Using the emblematic gesture of the circle, allows for nonlinear multi-directional possibilities that create a robust connective tissue that houses the fundamental urban diversities of dwelling, working, culture, commerce, leisure, recreation and education. These urban typologies are then adapted to a circular system that transforms the traditional suburban residual space into an active communal public landscape, which introduces a network of pedestrian corridors, cyclist’s paths, pet circulation and inland river pools that are supported by the non-mechanical biological cleaning of grey water from the surrounding wetlands. Lansivayla poses an interesting spatial problem as it clearly divides the site. However, through an elegant gesture to connect the north and south of the site with a program-rich
jetty. This urban jetty serves both to protect the Kavusaari harbor, while further bridging the century old dialogue between Helsinki’s natural and supernatural edifice. The programmatic and typological richness of Helsinki, became both a point of departure and arrival for our proposal. Relevant typologies clustered together in a loop form an archipelago of atmospheres and articulate a coherent urban attaché to the city of Helsinki.
