COMPETITION EUROPAN 11. UP IN THE TREES.

Porvoo, Finland. with Antoine Hertenberger. 2011

"The action of revealing new landscapes"

The site stands between various infrastructural key elements that the city of Porvoo has developed and used throughout the years. This system established strong connexions with the natural surrounding converting it in a production tool. The old wood fabric extends on the territory: Machines are all around the mill; wood is dried and piled on the ground close to the fabric; the river transports the logs and the train system crosses the land connecting the city to the country. An electrical transformer substation draws an empty line through the old wood fabric. Water canals spread all over the site, and redirect the melting snow to the river, in intent to prevent spring flooding.

The highway to the north and the cemetery to the south, act as contemporary borders for this former industrial district.

Observing the aerial photo of Porvoo and its new developments beyond its walls, the image that immediately springs to mind is that of an organic fabric, of a thread like form that accumulates in more or less dense lumps. At the centre the material is relatively compact, but towards the edge it expels islands detached from the rest of the constructed fabric,

A balance between plan, subdivision and construction. The most important means for achieving this, is the relation between public and private and the associated differences in atmosphere between hard and soft.