Arkki projects english lowres by ARKKI SCHOOL OF ARCHITECTURE FOR KIDS & YOUTH

SCHOOL LOCATIONS Helsinki:

Kaapelitehdas Tallberginkatu 1 C 106 00180 Helsinki Vantaa:

Lastenkulttuurikeskus Vernissa Tikkurilantie 36, 01300 Vantaa Espoo:

Koulumestarin koulu Muuralanpiha 1, 02770 Espoo

OFFICE Kalevankatu 31 A 14 00100 Helsinki + 358 50 525 8668 info@arkki.net www.arkki.net

”Many children have developed a mindset that they are not able to draw, but luckily no one seems to think they cannot build!” – Pihla Meskanen, director of Arkki

ARKKI Arkki is a unique school in Finland run by a non profit organisation founded in 1993. Arkki provides architectural education within the system of Basic Education in the Arts. The Basic Art Education act was passed in 1992. Arkki provides this long-term architectural education in the cities of Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa. The architectural education for children and young people provided by Arkki, is the most comprehensive in the world, measured by its depth, quantity and quality. Arkki provides 3600 teaching hours/year and offers children and young people a possibility of altogether 16 years of architectural studies, and a total of 1800 hours of teaching. In addition to this long-term architectural education, Arkki provides short courses for 400 children and workshops for 3000 children each year. Arkki also creates educational curriculums for schools, museums and afterschool art and architecture clubs. Arkki is involved in national and international networks related to architectural education. Arkki also organises training for school teachers and daycare personnel, organises conferences and produces teaching material.

ARCHITECTURE CLUBS

ARCHITECTURAL EDUCATION

Arkki provides courses in architecture for ages ranging from 4 to 19. Teaching takes place in weekly sessions. Around 500 children and young adults attend the courses weekly. 4-6 year olds are welcome to come to the courses with their parents. Children from 7 years and up join activities in groups of 12 of the same age. In Arkki, the children are introduced to the different aspects of the built environment, the natural environment and the relationship between the two. The basic elements of architecture; space, light and shadow, colours, shapes, materials and structures are studied as well as visual presentation techniques, design processes, and matters related to ecology, sustainability and construction. In Arkki we believe that architectural education gives children new possibilities, means and mediums to influence the creation of our future environment. Through various activities Arkki wishes to ignite a spark in young people’s minds, so that they will want to influence and participate in the development of the built environment in the future, whatever their occupation is.

The aim of Arkki is to promote architectural education in Finland. We want to help children to fully discover and enjoy architecture and the built environment, to understand the impact and meaning of architecture to man, and appreciate everybody’s joint responsibility for the environment. In Arkki, play and fantasy are used as means to discover the different phenomena of architecture. Learning happens through carefully conducted investigations, constructing and experimenting with different materials. Teaching in Arkki follows the national system of Basic Education of Arts and Architecture, which supports and extends the arts education at the elementary school. The objectives and core contents are determined in national core curricula devised by the National Board of Education. Architectural education aims to develop a child’s ability to perceive, consider, understand, conceptualise and evaluate his or her environment. Education about architecture helps provide tools for responsible and active citizenship.

â&#x20AC;?At Arkki we focus on experiencing the world with all the senses. We create pedagogical projects to stimulate the senses and to inspire the imagination and creativity.â&#x20AC;?

WORKSHOPS FOR SCHOOL GROUPS Personalised workshops are available for school groups. The theme can be selected from our wide range of existing choices, or the workshop can be tailored according to individual wishes. Most of the workshops utilise hands-on working methods. Learning by doing and experimenting are essential in understanding architectural concepts and qualities. An essential part of the workshop is play and pleasure. Carefully planned projects guide children through an individual learning process. Succeeding in these projects leaves a pleasurable memory and encourages the child to find out more about the subject themselves.

BIRTHDAY PARTY WITH ”SWEET ARCHITECTURE” For a birthday party that’s both educational and fun ”Sweet Architecture” or “Sweet City” workshops are memorable and unique events. The party can be arranged at Arkki´s inspiring premises in the Cable Factory. By hands-on building the participating children can discover answers by themselves in a playful way, instead of being told the answers by adults. In these workshops the idea is to inspire the participants to learn more about our built environment and provide knowledge about architecture.

”I have started to see the environment in a totally new way”, commented a 12-year-old Arkki student. COURSES HUT BUILDING Amongst Arkki´s various architectural courses some of the most popular are the hut building courses, where architecture is discovered in 1:1 scale. The desire to build huts seems to exist in every child. Hut building courses introduce the children to the building traditions of different nations and cultures. Man has always constructed shelters against the hostile elements of nature using whatever different materials each environment has had to offer. From ancient, as well as present day nomads we can learn the simple and practical construction methods that have been refined over thousands of years. In the hut building courses the children are introduced to different cultures and their building traditions. They also learn about different structural systems, joining methods and knots. Learning happens through play and construction. By 2013, 450 camps have been organised and a total of approximately 4000 children have participated in them. A book for children on hut building is available from Arkki in Finnish, called ”Pieni Majakirja”, a ”Small Book of Huts”.

ADVANCED HUT BUILDING For those who have participated in the hut building course, Arkki offers advanced courses. In these courses children can make use of the methods they have learned in the previous camps. Within groups, various techniques can be joined together to design new types of huts. Advanced courses are arranged under various themes.

HUT BUILDING FOR FAMILY Family courses give also the youngest children a possibility to safely join the hut building together with their parents or grandparents. Techniques learned on this course can easily be applied at home, for example, to create a hut village as children’s playground.

ENVIRONMENTAL ART

MODEL BUILDING

On this course the environment is discovered using all the senses. Individual and group artworks are designed and realised in the landscape using different materials and techniques. The art pieces are documented and published in the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s virtual architectural map www.cmycity.net.

On our model building course participants can choose between two themes. You can concentrate on the big plan and landscape model with houses and scenery, or focus on the interior design of a dream house considering details of furniture and materials. Both the interiors and exteriors can be inhabited with characters and used, for example, for role-playing games.

DESIGN On the design course the world of objects is approached from a new perspective. Different questions are explored; such as why we need design, who designs the objects, and what do you need to consider whilst designing objects. During the course a variety of objects at different scales are designed and realised with tried and trusted design techniques. The underlying theme is recycling and innovative reuse of materials.

ADVENTURES IN THE CITY On this course participants explore the city and the built environment.They observe the common and the extraordinary, and document their discoveries by sketching, photographing, and through videos and notes. Also, plans for the future city are designed, and these creations are published in the childrenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s virtual architectural map www.cmycity.net.

PROJECTS 2012

ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOP FOR UPPER-SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS VANTAA – DESIGN WINDOW Design Window was an exhibition space and community forum established by the City of Vantaa specifically for WDC World Design Capital year, where exhibitions, seminars and workshops were organised for individuals of all ages. There were different exhibitions on show demonstrating the planning of new housing areas in the city. During the year, Arkki arranged urban planning workshops for upper-secondary school students, associated with changing exhibitions showing different urban areas.

ABC MY CITY

Urban planning alphabet workshops 17.1., 19.1. and 25.–26.1.2012 The urban planning workshops arranged by Arkki used brief lectures and shared workshop assignments to give the participants an understanding of the history and basic principles of urban design, current and future visions of the city, and ways in which young people can influence design and decision-making related to their own environment in Vantaa. During the workshop assignments, the participants used models to design and build the group’s own idea of what they thought would be agreeable urban space. The content of the urban planning workshops dealt with topics included in the upper-secondary school curriculum (see the Finnish National Board of Education National Core Curriculum) drawn from the following themes: active citizenship and entrepreneurship, sustainable development, cultural identity and knowledge of cultures, plus technology and society. Participation was free of charge for school groups, and classes were chosen in the order in which they enrolled. The leader of the workshop was Niina Hummelin, Arkki’s head teacher.

SWEET CITY

Community workshop, 12.1.2012 What are cities made of? Apartment buildings, streets, squares, parks, public buildings, landmarks, and so on. The appearance of a city is made up of all sorts of things including the materials used to construct the buildings. But what sort of a city do you get if the principal building materials are biscuits and other tasty building blocks? During the workshop, we built an entire city from edible materials. The participants decided what kind of buildings they wanted to design and build in their shared town from the tasty materials that were available. The workshop provided a fun framework for learning the secrets of urban planning and the elements of architecture.

AVIAPOLIS

Workshop, 15.–16.3.2012 This workshop took a look at the exhibition showing the Aviapolis housing area and its fascinating architecture and urban planning, on show in the Vantaa Design Window from 6.3 to 31.3.2012. The workshop examined the impact of traffic on architecture and urban design since this future housing area is situated at a major traffic node comprising the existing airport, the forthcoming railway line, and the intersection of two major roads. The workshop assignment was to think about and plan important buildings such as airports, railway stations and other local landmark buildings located at traffic intersections. The introductory talk for this assignment went through the principles and concepts of urban planning, while photographs and drawings of prospects for the Vantaa Aviapolis area were studied. The material used included City of Vantaa planning material, plus drawings and models produced by the firms of architects actively involved in planning the area. The students designed, drew and constructed plasticine models of their own landmark buildings to be located traffic intersections. The content of the workshop was planned to back up the uppersecondary school curriculum plus cultural education plans in City of Vantaa pre-school and basic education. Participation was free of charge for school groups, and classes were chosen in the order in which they enrolled. The leader of the workshop was Niina Hummelin, Arkki’s head teacher.

MARJA-VANTAA

Ring Rail - urban design workshop 20.9.–21.9.2012 This two-hour urban-design workshop gave sixteen-year-olds from Vantaa the opportunity to exchange ideas about what they thought would be a congenial city and a good place to live. The workshop took an in-depth look at the Marja-Vantaa Ring Rail exhibition in the Vantaa Design Window and the introductory lecture talked about urban planning in the MarjaVantaa area and about future prospects. During the workshop, the young people taking part were able to design urban spaces from their own point of view, while learning something new about their own immediate surroundings and how they could influence the design of their own environment in Vantaa. The workshop was aimed at youngsters in the ninth and last class of basic education (comprehensive school) and the content of the workshop was designed to back-up the National Core Curriculum for the ninth class. Participation was free of charge for school classes, which were chosen in order of registration. The head of the workshop was Niina Hummelin, head teacher of the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth.

COLOURFUL SNOWCASTLE

Public workshop, 4.2.2012 On an extremely frosty Saturday, with a temperature of -20 degrees C, we organised a half-day workshop open to the public, in the open-air outside the Vantaa Design Window. Together, we built a colourful snow castle using different moulds and other fun-tools. Everyone was able to try out snowball tongs and make perfectly round snowballs from powdery snow. Bigger building elements for the castle walls were made using a special snowblock making tool. The icing on the cake was being able to try out big snow paintings using a special technique developed by Arkki. This used spray bottles intended for watering plants, that were filled with a variety of water-based colours which could be used for painting snowballs and snow castles in cheerful shades.

SWEET CITY

Public workshop, 24.3.2012 One of the children’s happenings organised in the City of Espoo for World Design Capital Year was an event arranged over a weekend at EMMA, the WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo, entitled ’Fantasia - City of Children’. As part of the event, the Sweet City workshop was commissioned from the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth. The workshop was held from 11.00 to 15.00 on the ’non-stop’ principle, so that everyone who wanted was able to take part on a ’first-come first-served’ basis. During the day, around a hundred children took part in the workshop together with their parents. All kinds of biscuits, wafers, sugar cubes, cheese straws and pasta were used as materials and different structures were glued together with icing sugar to form buildings, city blocks and eventually, a whole city. Uncooked fondant candy was also available for more free-form modelling. To begin with, the participants designed the city centre to be surrounded by a green area, but the city changed form constantly as it grew and expanded during the course of the day. The Sweet City workshop came to a climax at 15.00 with a recycling performance when the city was destroyed and reused - by being eaten! The event was photographed and videoed by Miika Ullakko to produce a video of the workshop. The workshop was led by Janne Inkeroinen, Minna-Mari Paija, Anni Peljo and Pihla Meskanen. The video can be viewed on the Internet at www. arkki.nu / gallery.

GOOD, BAD AND FUNNY TOYS – TOY EXHIBITION Toy Museum Hevosenkenkä, WEEGEE 20.3.2012–10.3.2013, Opening 20.3.2012

The ’tomorrow’ section of this exhibition was planned by four groups of students from the Espoo branch of the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth. Other sections of the exhibition presented toys from today and yesterday. The Arkki students thought up a range of very different toys from soft toys to magic tricks and then designed and made them. At the start of the project, the children were asked to design toys which they themselves, or the children of tomorrow, would want to play with. In line with the title of the exhibition, the toys could be good, bad, or even funny. Taking part in the design of the toys were three age groups: children aged 4 to 6 assisted by their parents, plus children aged 7 to 9 and those aged 10 to 14. Each child designed and made his or her own toy and a catalogue was printed of the toys the children had made.

ARKKI STUDENTSâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; SPRING EXHIBITION AND PARTY AT THE CABLE FACTORY 5.5.2012 LIGHT WORKSHOP The youngsters taking part in the light workshop were able to use all their senses to experience an exciting space made from white cloth and changing coloured lights, and shaped like half a barrel. The space provided the opportunity to sense how the character of the space changed according to the colour of the light and the space. All the visitors were able to see for themselves what it felt like to be inside a space lit with cold blue or warm red light. Participants could also influence the lighting themselves and explore a light labyrinth with the aid of torches.

PLANT HOUSE/ GREENHOUSE The idea of this workshop was to build an interesting house in cardboard, tuned to individual taste, and then plant seeds inside it to grow peas, sunflowers and other summer flowers. The outlines of a do-it-yourself origami house were printed on cardboard. Each child coloured their own house, then folded it and glued it together to form a 3-dimensional model. This then became a greenhouse in which to plant seeds. When the workshop was over, the children could take their spring seed-boxes home for the seeds to grow.

C MY CITY

Children’s virtual architectural map of Helsinki, Espoo,Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti Publication 5.5.2012 At the Cable Factory How do children and young people see the built environment? This virtual architectural map gives them the opportunity to explain it themselves. C My City shows the buildings and urban spaces which children and young people consider important, seen from their own point of view. In addition, the website presents children’s and young people’s ideas about the buildings and urban environment of tomorrow. With the help of multimedia material linked with the map on the Internet, children and young people present their own home city in different ways from their own point of view in words, pictures, animation and videos. The map shows buildings and other elements of the built environment, which children and young people themselves regard as important, seen from their own point of view. It also presents children’s ideas about tomorrow’s urban environment. The C My City website shows the cities of Helsinki, Espoo, Vantaa, Kauniainen and Lahti in pictures, words, videos and animation. By looking at the pictures and videos of the cities on the website it is possible to see how others have studied the cities from different points of departure using different techniques. The C My City project encourages children and young people to explore the built environment, to study and investigate what they find and tell other people about their observations. The overall aim of the project is to arouse discussion amongst children and young people about their own environment. In cooperation with Yutakana and WDC Helsinki

ARKKI SUMMER CAMPS IN HELSINKI AND ESPOO The Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth has been organising hut-building camps since 1994, and in 2012, the camps were organised for the nineteenth time. Altogether, around 4,000 children have taken part in Arkki camps. From the very beginning, the idea of the hut-building camps was to look at the shelters developed in different cultures and learn something about the construction techniques used in them. The shelters themselves are an element of vernacular architecture. Most of the shelters studied at the hut-building camps are movable dwellings that can be easily put up and taken down and which are part of nomadic culture. Nomads are people who do not live in permanent dwellings, but move about, often following their animals as they graze. Many cultures have been building virtually the same shelters from the same materials for hundreds if not thousands of years. Many types of shelter have been developed from one generation to another and have been refined into ever more ingenious and simple construction types. The materials have been chosen from the vegetation in the immediate surroundings to meet the requirements of sheltering from the prevailing weather conditions. The most important aspect of building shelters has always been their function. Form has emerged from the need itself and from the available materials within the context of what can be done with them. Beauty is born out of simplicity. Often the external form of the shelter reflects the way of life, social customs, beliefs and behaviour of their users, plus the social structure and customs of the society from which they come. Frequently the structure of the shelters also symbolises the world view of their builders. The shelters of nomadic shepherd peoples represent fitness for purpose and sustainable, ecological building.

HUT-BUILDING CAMPS 4.6.–29.6. Ruukinranta, Espoo

Once again, the hut-building camps were extremely popular this year with some of them being already fully booked before Christmas. In June 2012, nine hut-building camps were organised at Ruukinranta in Espoo. Each camp lasted five days except for the camp in Midsummer week which lasted four days, and building took place every day from 9.00 to 16.00. Two-day family camps were organised at weekends from 10.00 to 16.00. The camps were planned for 7 to 14 year-olds, but children of pre-school age were welcome at the weekend camps together with their parents.

ART CAMPS AT THE CABLE FACTORY 4.6.–29.6.

In June 2012, we organised camps for art, fashion and scale models at the Cable Factory. This year, there were also camps for computer animation and ‘Dream Houses’. At the computer animation camp, the students tried out different ways of making animated films and made several short animated videos. At the ‘Dream House’ camp, the work was mainly done with the ArchiCAD software used by architects. The students made 3D models of buildings and interiors. The non-computer camps were aimed at 7 to 14 year-olds and the computer camps were for 10 to15 year-olds. A total of 362 children and 25 adults took part in the Arkki courses organised in June 2012.

IGLU

Iglu workshop in the yard at the Museum of Finnish Architecture, 5.2.2012 WDC Helsinki 2012 Design Capital weekend, with its hundreds of events, was carried through in a crackling twenty degrees of frost and both the Arkki workshops were, quite by chance, snow building. In the workshop commissioned by the Museum, we built an iglu (also spelt ’igloo’). The iglu is a traditional dome-shaped dwelling built out of snow, used by the Inuit, which is lived in during winter, or built as a temporary base during a hunting trip. Iglus are built from blocks of snow. The material is best when the snow is packed together hard by the wind so that it can be cut into blocks using a long knife. The blocks are traditionally about 60 cm wide, 120 cm long and 20 cm high. Iglus are built on an outer ring of blocks and then progress in a spiral upwards and inwards towards the centre. Because this is a demanding technique for children and because the right type of snow is rarely to be found in Helsinki, the Arkki iglu was built using a different, more modern technique. The Arkki iglu was built using formwork, a method developed by experienced travellers who have built many different types of snow shelter on their winter wanderings in the snowy mountains of Colorado. They applied the principle of ’slip-forming’ to building iglus, which gave rise to modern iglu formwork. Using iglu formwork, you can produce a regularshaped iglu of just the size you want. The cross section of an iglu is a self-supporting vault. In sixteen degrees of frost, it took four hours to the second to build the iglu, precisely the time allowed for the Arkki workshop. Two experienced builders, Juha Myöhänen and Olli Pursiainen, had already done six hours of preparatory work, so that the job could be finished in the allotted time. Virpi Mamia and Sari Huttunen from Arkki, helped to direct operations. During the day, about 50 people, ranging from small children to tourists, took part in the workshop. As well as the iglu, the workshop built smaller snow castles using block moulds and painted snow paintings using a spray technique. Miikka Ullakko made a video of the workshop, which can be viewed on the Arkki website.

PARIS – ARCHIBONBON ArchiBonbon workshops 24.–25.3.

On Saturday and Sunday 24-25.3.2012, in conjunction with the ’Best School in the World’ exhibition at the Finnish Institute in Paris, Arkki organised three architecture workshops aimed at Parisian schoolchildren. Inspired by the Eiffel Tower, the children at the workshops built their own towers. The towers were placed in front of a huge panoramic photo of the city landscape with the Eiffel Tower in the foreground. During the introductory talk, the children and youngsters taking part were shown a familiar Paris landscape and asked if they recognised the area. Because the Eiffel Tower is such a dominant part of the landscape, the fact that it was missing from the picture meant that an otherwise familiar area became very difficult to recognise even for those who saw it every day. Landscape recognition was an entertaining task which generated a good deal of discussion. Next, basic forms of construction were examined, first in a lecture and then through the participants’ own experiments in building. Two-dimensional triangles were converted into threedimensional tetrahedrons and the tetrahedrons were joined together to make a space-frame. Then, the children studied how the sticks in the structure acted as columns and as beams, and considered the effect of gravity on the structure. Altogether, around 90 Parisian children aged 6 to 12 took part in the three workshops which were held on Saturday and Sunday. The leader of the workshops was architect Virpi Mamia.

KULPS! – THE CULTURE AND SPORTS PATH

The architecture workshops were held at the Cable Factory on 22.2, 12.3, 22.3, 29.3 (2 workshops), 17.4, 9.11 and 16.11.2012. KULPS! takes comprehensive school pupils from Espoo to cultural and sports venues in their home city. Some things are best learned in the classroom, but there are other things which you only learn about if you leave the school and go and see them for yourself. The path takes you to sports facilities, cultural locations and libraries. KULPS! is free of charge, because it is part of basic education. Over their nine years in comprehensive school, Espoo pupils will come to know all of the major cultural and sports venues in Espoo. The culture and sports path includes pupil assignments and teacher instruction, created using the Opit online learning platform. Opit is an Internet tool shared by all pupils and teachers at comprehensive schools in Espoo, and pupils can save their own files on the server: text, images and multimedia. Study trips and local events documented in different classes will eventually form a personal KULPS! file for the pupil, and the pupil’s family can watch it developing, too. You may even find a new hobby or a new interest along the way. Enjoy your journey! During spring and autumn, Arkki organised eight architecture workshops for children in the fifth class of primary school. These formed part of the Espoo KULPS programme and were held in the Arkki teaching facilities at the Cable Factory. In 2012, the theme of KULPS workshops for schools was the Architecture Toolkit. KULPS! is the City of Espoo’s culture and sports path. Within the context of the programme, school-childen are able to get to know different forms of culture and sports in Espoo, free of charge. The City purchases these service from cultural and sports establishments. The architecture workshops were held in the Arkki teaching facilities at the Cable Factory on 22.2, 12.3, 22.3, 29.3 (2 workshops), 17.4, 9.11 and 16.11.2012. At the workshops, the children were introduced to the Architecture Toolkit which can be used to study architecture with all the senses. After the workshop, each class was given an Architecture Toolkit for its own use. During the workshop the children were given simple exercises intended to open their eyes to different aspects of architecture and to show the class teacher how architecture can be taught in school through various subjects, using the Architecture Toolkit assignments.

ARCHITECTURE TOOLKIT FOR SCHOOLS â&#x20AC;&#x201C; getting a feeling for architecture

The Architecture Toolkit comprises a cardboard box containing 13 task cards, 4 sensory tools and a teacherâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s card with instructions. The sensory exercises and the task cards are intended as a guideline and a source of inspiration for the teacher in classroom work. They can be easily adapted to suit the situation. The tools in the box (hand mirror, cardboard cone, blindfold, and fingerless gloves) can be utilised in any of the exercises. The teaching pack is based on methods that have been shown to work in terms of learning by doing. The tasks have been designed pedagogically so that each child can feel he or she has achieved success by working and learning through his or her own observations and experiences. The Architecture Toolkit has been produced with financial support from the Nordic Culture Fund and assembled by Nordic members of the international organisation for architectural education, PLAYCE. The Architecture Toolkit was published on 4.9.2009 in conjunction with an international conference on architectural education for children and young people.

1–2–3 HELSINKI DESIGN EN SEINE

Exhibitions and workshops at the Finnish Design Exhibition during the Paris Design Week 2-3.6.2012 Arkki took part in a week-long exhibition of Finnish design in Paris. The work of Arkki students was on show at the exhibition in the form of models, photographs and a non-stop series of images on a 19” screen, while Arkki’s own videos were shown on two other screens. Arkki also organised four workshops for Parisian children at the weekend. Arkki’s ’Sweet City’ workshops for children took a look at the world of urban planning by building a city out of tasty materials. The workshops, which were held in French, used photographs to study the history of urban planning and examine specific town plans drawn up at different periods. The most important thing, however, was the city that the participants built together out of biscuits and other tasty materials. Sweet City was built four times during the weekend, despite problems caused by the intense heat. The uncooked fondant mass refused to solidify because of the heat and the filling in the biscuits kept melting. In spite of the technical difficulties, the workshops were a great success and thrilled the Parisian children, their parents and the exhibition visitors. The workshops were led by architects Virpi Mamia and Pihla Meskanen. 1-2-3 Helsinki! Design on Seine was part of the famous Parisian Design Week and the World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 programme. Finland was chosen as a special guest for the 2012 Designer’s Day. The event presented Finnish design focussing on specific characteristics of Finnish design such as functionalism and a pure aesthetic, plus quality, sustainable development and ecology. The event was held in an exhibition space built out of containers on the banks of the Seine between Port de la Tournelle and Port de la Gare. The container exhibition could also be viewed by boat, the riverboat Montebello offering Finnish delicacies as well as the landscape. The event was produced by the Finnish Cultural Institute in Paris and curated by Esa Vesmanen.

FUTURO LOUNGE

Futuro Lounge exhibition at EMMA, the Espoo Museum of Modern Art in conjunction with the FUTURO exhibition 26.3â&#x20AC;&#x201C;16.9.2012 The Espoo Museum of Modern Art held an exhibition presenting the Futuro House, in which one restored Futuro House was sited in the grounds of the Museum. A space known as the Futuro Lounge, which formed part of the exhibition, was built in collaboration with a group of more advanced students from Arkki under the leadership of architect Sini Koivisto. The students planned a Futuro interior for the 2000s and built it in the form of scale models and wall paintings in the exhibition gallery. Part of it was available for the use of the public whose job it was to continue the work by furnishing and reconstructing their own Futuro House using the studentsâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; interior design elements. The Lounge combined studies of the Futuro House by youngsters of the 2000s with contemporary woks of art. Themes in the Lounge were utopia, optimism and spatial thinking. The basic models of the Futuro House used by the Arkki students were produced in accordance with the original on a 3D printer. In addition to the designs by Arkki students, works by Mari Sunna, Ismo Kajander, Simo Hannula and Aurora Reinhardt, which all reflected the Futuro atmosphere and vocabulary of form, were hung in the Lounge. A music video made by Mika Taanila of an Ektroverde number, Inauguration of a Spacebank, was played in the Lounge. The video material was filmed in 1972 at Lakewood, New Jersey by Samuel Samson.

FUTURO HOUSE The WeeGee Exhibition Centre acquired the ownership of the first Futuro House off the production line (no. 001) which had been in Hirvensalmi, in the ownership of Matti Kuusla from summer 1968 to autumn 2011. A team of conservators took over the Futuro House, which had been at the mercy of the elements for over 40 years, and restored it with great care. The House was on show in the grounds of the WeeGee Centre and open to the public from 8.5 to 16.9.2012. It will be open again in 2013 and in subsequent years. The Futuro House, an example of space-age utopia, is an elliptical house made of plastic, which was designed in the late 1960s by architect Matti Suronen. It encapsulates the optimistic ideals of the late 1960s and the experimental forms and new materials of space-age architecture and design.The Futuro House started out as a commission for a skiing lodge which could be easily erected in difficult terrain and quickly heated. The Futuro was launched in 1968 and immediately attracted enormous attention both in Finland and abroad, but was too expensive and too ’different’ to appeal to the mass market. In 1973, the oil crisis tripled the price of plastic and buried all hopes of the Futuro conquering the world. Although the Futuro was completely forgotten at one stage, it took on a new lease of life in the 1990s, not only as an icon of the space age expressing the spirit of the ’60s, but also in the international art world as an objet d’art.Today, there are about 45 Futuro Houses in different parts of the world, two of them on public display.The Futuro prototype (no. 000) is in the Boijmans Van Beuningen Museum in Rotterdam, and now Futuro no. 001 is on show at the WeeGee Exhibition Centre in Espoo. The WeeGee Futuro exhibition was part of the Helsinki Design Capital programme.

GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM Exhibition 27.3.-28.4.2012 Helsinki City Planning Department, information and exhibition space Laituri.

The Children’s Guggenheim project was carried out at Arkki from October 2011 to March 2012. Around 80 students of varying ages took part in the project and an exhibition of their work on designing a Children’s Guggenheim Art Museum was opened on 27.3.2012. The Children’s Guggenheim exhibition was open at the Laituri exhibition space from 28.03 to 28.04.2012. The people of Helsinki also had the opportunity to make their views known about the design of the Guggenheim building and its external form, when an open workshop was organised in conjunction with the exhibition on Saturday 31.3.2012. During the workshop, models of the proposed art museum were constructed using the origami technique. The workshop was led by architects Virpi Mamia, Sofie Hägerström and Pihla Meskanen. Arkki’s 7 to 18-year-old students were given the challenging task of designing the art museum without a schedule of accommodation. Eight groups took a look at museum building in general and then each child designed his or her own version of the proposed Guggenheim Museum. Each child also constructed a model of his or her design from chosen materials. Photographs were taken of the models and then photo-manipulation software was used to locate them on the proposed vacant site on Katajanokka seen within the overall landscape of Kauppatori. The students had a free hand in presenting their ideas of what the proposed museum would look like as a whole in their models. Art museums were designed in different groups using different materials and no limitations were set on the shape of the models. The assignment was linked with the topical discussion about the possible siting of the proposed new Guggenheim Museum on the site of the Kanavaterminaali on Helsinki’s Katajanokka. The students studied art museum building in the Helsinki cityscape and some of the schemes were designed so that the art museum could be located in any suitable place. The children learned something new about architecture and urban design through their own design, building and modelling work. Some 50 models and illustrations were on show at the Children’s Guggenheim exhibition and 55 designs were included in the exhibition catalogue.

DREAM HOUSE

Workshop, 21.4.2012, Helsinki City Planning Department, information and exhibition space Laituri The Arkki Dream House workshop at the Laituri exhibition space, open to everyone living in Helsinki, was associated with the City Planning Department exhibition entitled Stadin Asuntomessut 2020. The exhibition, designed by Tuomas Toivonen and Nene Tsuboi, provided residents with an opportunity to air their views and gave everyone the tools to seek out their ideal way of living. The exhibition presented eight dreams of city living in Finland and eight inspiring homes from around the world. The participants in the Akki workshop were able to design and build their dream home at a scale of 1:50. Inspiration and design guidance were provided by the homes from other parts of the world plus the Finnish dream homes that were all on show in the exhibition. As the basis for their own designs, participants were able to use parts of the interior design and furnishings from the exhibition, which were printed out on paper at a scale of 1:50. Also printed out on paper were various furniture groups which could be used to give an idea of scale and to help in designing the floor plan of the participant’s own dream home. The designs were prepared using the architect’s traditional methods of working, by drawing sketches, and new designs on top of old ones using tracing paper. Once the dream home had reached a satisfactory stage, the designer went on to construct a 3D illustrative model. Parts of the dream home designs were built in 3D using lightweight board to define the spaces. ’Wall sections’ of various heights were ready-cut to size with window holes cut in them in different ways. Some had large floor-to-ceiling window openings, while others had horizontal or vertical window openings. These ready-cut wall sections with a variety of different window openings gave participants the opportunity to study the effect of the fenestration on the interior. Coloured paper could also be used on the walls to study the effect of colour on the character and atmosphere of the space. Plasticine was available so the participants could make their own furniture for different rooms quickly. The tools, instruments and materials used were scales, felt-tipped pens, coloured paper, glue and 1:50 furniture stencils. The workshop was led by architects Virpi Mamia and Minna-Mari Paija.

ISLANDS OF STORIES Exhibition in the VIA KAAPELI gallery at the Cable Factory 3.4-27.4.2012

The Islands of Stories exhibition at the Via Kaapeli gallery in Ruoholahti, showed models made by Arkki students on spring courses of story-world islands, of bridges leading to them and airships that could be used to travel to the story-world island. The students thought carefully about what the terrain of an island of stories would look like: would there be mountains, forests, buildings...? After the ideas stage, the children built models of the terrain of their islands from papier machĂŠ on a stout base and painted them in different colours. Then they designed and built the buildings, vegetation, landing stages, and so on, out of cardboard, wood veneer and sticks, felt and a variety of other materials using hot-melt adhesive. The story-world islands were to be joined together by a whole range of very personal bridges, so next, the children thought about what kind of bridge would take a traveller to story island and the world of stories. They also wondered whether one could fly to story-world on the back of a butterfly, or in an airship or a hot-air balloon. The ideas were first drawn on paper and then the children built models of all these bridges, flying creatures, hot-air balloons and other contraptions. Finally, the work was taken to the gallery with the children, to be put on show. The magic world of the models in the exhibition was displayed for passers-by to admire in an outdoor exhibition that was open throughout April 2012.

NIGHT OF THE ARTS Sweet Architecture workshop in the Arkki teaching space at the Cable Factory, 23.8.2012

August 23 was Helsinki’s Night of the Arts and, in the traditional way, the Cable Factory was filled with a whole range of workshops, performances, exhibitions and ‘open doors’. For nearly ten years, Arkki has joined in by organising a Sweet Architecture workshop for children in our own teaching facilities at the Cable Factory. At the Arkki Sweet Architecture workshop, cocktail sticks and sweets were used to build towers and other structures. Building with tasty materials, teaches participants in a fun way what kinds of geometric forms can be used to build strong towers and similar structures. The Sweet Architecture workshops, which are aimed at children, have been extremely popular year after year, and during the evening of the Night of the Arts the secrets of architecture have been revealed to some 400 children and the young at heart.

EVERYDAY DISCOVERIES – MINIATURE WORLD DESIGN EXPO 8.9.2012 Suvilahti

ARKKI LECTURE AND SWEET ARCHITECTURE OPEN WORKSHOP Lectures and workshops were used as the basis for a meeting point for the international design community, which was established in conjunction with the Everyday Discoveries exhibition. Within the Everyday Discoveries exhibition, the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth organised a Sweet Architecture workshop that was open to all. The workshop was held on Saturday 8.9.2012 and on the same day, Arkki’s head teacher, architect Niina Hummelin, gave a lecture on the subject ’Learning by Playing’, that was open to the general public. After the lecture, architect Barry Richards, director of the Rockwell Group, presented a ground-breaking play-space concept ’Imagination Playground’. This was followed by a discussion between Hummelin, Richards and the public about the importance of play and the design of play-spaces.

EVERYDAY DISCOVERIES – MINI WORLD DESIGN EXHIBITION Arjen aarteista muodostuu myös kansainvälisen muotoiluyhteisön The Everyday Discoveries exhibition at Suvilahti in Helsinki provided an extensive overview of international design. Over 20 countries presented their design ideas and concepts, and organised events of various kinds. Behind it all lay the question of what is understood as ‘everyday’ in different countries and what design solutions different countries have to the same everyday situations and the same everyday objects. Admission to the exhibition, which spread throughout indoor and outdoor spaces at Suvilahti, was free of charge. The spaces included a container village, a cafe, a design shop and even an urban garden. The countries taking part in the exhibition organised an extensive programme for visitors, ranging from lectures to parties. There was something to do and something to try for both children and adults, plus design for professionals and for those who were only marginally interested in it. The fabric of the exhibition was built up from shared displays by the various countries in the Kattilahalli, where the countries encountered each other through different themes in different situations, including a shared table. Each exhibiting country contributed to a table setting for an international dinner party using the items they had brought with them. As well as the shared table, each country also showed its own design in its own exhibits. These took a more in-depth view of the everyday and everyday design seen from various points of view. Visitors had the opportunity to get the feel of a North American children’s play area or have a go at the Irish sport of hurling. Imu Design was responsible for planning the exhibition concept and curating the exhibition, while Aalto+Aalto were in charge of exhibition design. The Everyday Discoveries exhibition, which was produced by Design Forum Finland, was part of the exhibition and events programme of Helsinki World Design Capital Year.

HELSINKI KALASATAMA LEGO WORKSHOPS in the Merikaapelihalli at the Cable Factory, 12-16.9.2012

The children’s architecture workshop traditionally held in conjunction with Open House Helsinki was this year part of the Helsinki Design Week Co-Creating Cable Factory event held in the Merikaapelihalli at the Cable Factory from 12 to 16.9.2012. Arkki organised a dawn to dusk, five-day workshop principally for children and youngsters, but it was also open to adults. The workshop was held in collaboration with the LEGO Group which supplied 200,000 white Lego Architecture bricks for use at the workshop. The workshop, which was conceptualised in cooperation with Helsinki City Planning Department, focussed on studying the plans for the new Helsinki Kalasatama district, to be built in the near future, and designing some hypothetical skyscrapers for the area. The Kalasatama area will eventually be home to Finland’s first genuine skyscrapers when a number of 33-storey blocks are built there. At the workshop, the City Planning Department’s visions for the future cityscape of the area and the architecture of the actual buildings were presented and then those taking part were able to design and build (in Architecture Lego) their own high-rise buildings at a scale of 1:500 on the site plan of the Kalasatama area. During the week of the workshop, Arkki students came to build during the evenings, while school classes came during school hours on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, the workshop was open to all, free of charge. Altogether, around 1,500 children and adults who were interested in building and the design of new housing areas, visited the workshop.

CHILDREN’S BUILDING BLOCKS ARCHITECTURE WORKSHOPS 30.9.2012 Berlin

During the early autumn of 2012, the Swedish embassy in Berlin staged a Building Blocks exhibition in the Pan Nordic Building, the Felleshus, where a series of ’dream houses’ were built that were dreamed up by children and young people from Berlin aged 6-16, in collaboration with local architects. The Building Blocks exhibition also included workshops organised by other Nordic embassies, in which German architects accompanied by their Nordic colleagues, led urban design workshops for children and young people based on various themes on four separate weekends. In the Finnish contribution, held on the last Sunday in September, Arkki’s head teacher, architect Niina Hummelin, accompanied by German architect and urban researcher Andrea Benz, led a workshop for 7 to 12-year-olds, which studied the residential building of tomorrow. Together with the children, the architects examined the cities of the future, with special reference to city living. The children’s ideas were first recorded in the form of drawings and stories which were then attached to a model of Berlin built specifically for the workshop, and on show in the exhibition. These ideas could be seen after each workshop in an expanding model which was on show in the Building Blocks exhibition after the workshops were over. The Tiergarten district, where the Nordic embassies and the Felleshus are located, served as a yardstick for urban planning during the workshop. Under the architects’ guidance, the children were able to weigh up planning-related themes and issues such as the following. How will people live in cities in the future? What will change? Can a dwelling be smaller in summer and larger in winter? How much space will we need and can different generations live together under the same roof?

HIGH-RISE WORKSHOPS at Tehtaankatu School, 26â&#x20AC;&#x201C;27.9.2012 and 1â&#x20AC;&#x201C;4.10.2012

At the request of Tehtaankatu School, architecture workshops were organised for all classes on school premises. The theme of the workshops was tower blocks, built using various materials and techniques. Each class was introduced to different high-rise buildings such as skyscrapers, lighthouses, water towers and viewing towers in a short but inspirational lecture given by Arkki teachers, which took a look at the architecture and construction of high-rise buildings using actual examples. The children also studied the impact of high-rise buildings on the cityscape using photos. The whole class then discussed different elevations and the scale of the buildings. During the workshops, classes of different ages studied high-rise buildings as follows:

Classes 1 and 2 : GEOMETRIC FORMS The workshop assignment was to build towers from basic forms using cocktail sticks and sweets. This Sweet Architecture workshop allowed the children to study geometric forms and durable structures.

Classes 3 and 4 : SCALE AND STRUCTURE The workshop took a look at scale and structure as elements of architecture. The workshop assignment was to build towers from sticks using hot-melt adhesive.

Classes 5 and 6 : HISTORY AND IMPORTANT WORKS OF ARCHITECTURE The workshop examined important works of architecture using photos. The workshop assignment was to build skyscraper structures from sticks and hot-melt adhesive, and then clad the structures with cardboard facades. In this task, particular attention was paid to the shape, colour and fenestration of the towers. When the workshops were over, a High-Rise City exhibition was held showing all the towers the children in the school had built.

FROM CARDBOARD BOX TO DREAM HOUSE WORKSHOP At the Pikku Aurora Children’s Art House in Espoo Saturday 20.10.2012, 11.00-14.00

Mitä kaikkea voikaan tehdä ympäristlä löytyvistä jätemateriaaWhat can we do with the rubbish around us? The ‘From Cardboard Box To Dream House’ workshop was buzzing with happy builders when the participants put their imagination to work on ordinary used cardboard boxes, colouring and customising them, and turning them into the cottages, houses and castles of their dreams, to build an entire village. The workshop was open to all members of the family, who worked together to build dream houses, starting with large cardboard boxes and gluing on smaller boxes to form overhangs and bay-windows. The houses were then painted, wallpapered and decorated. As more and more houses were built, it became obvious that they began to grow outbuildings and gardens, until they became whole villages. Even though it was a chilly October day, the enthusiasm of the participants suddenly carried them outside to build a whole town. The overall enthusiasm even seemed to have an impact on the teacher’s passion for urban planning. The workshop was led by architect and urban planner Virpi Mamia who was acting as one of Arkki’s teachers. The workshop was free-of-charge to all those taking part.

HÅKANSBÖLE MANOR WORKSHOPS 24.10.2012 and 14.11.2012

Vantaa City Museum offered school classes in Vantaa the opportunity to take part in a series of architecture workshops about Håkansböle Manor. The workshops were organised in conjunction with an exhibition in ’Design Window’, Vantaa’s contribution to the World Design Capital 2012 programme. The workshops were arranged as cooperation between Arkki and the Vantaa City Museum, and were held at Håkansböle Manor and in the school of the participating class. The workshops were part of the City of Vantaa World Design Capital 2012 programme. The workshops, which were planned by Arkki, presented the history of Håkansböle Manor and its place today, and took a look at Jugend (or Art Nouveau) architecture in Finland as a whole. Class 8A of Hakunila School took part in the workshop together with their class teacher Mirka Grönholm. The workshop was organised in two parts, whereby the children first visited Håkansböle Manor in the company of researcher Inka Keränen and educational curator Marjo Eerikäinen from Vantaa City Museum. The second session of the workshop took place in the children’s own classroom at school, when it was led by architect Niina Hummelin, head teacher of the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth. Pictures were used to give an account of how Håkansböle Manor looked on the day of the visit and then the children looked at old illustrations which showed how the Manor had looked originally, when it was still lived in. The manor-house was then studied as a whole and in detail from photographs. In the ’HandsOn’ element of the workshop, the class joined together to build a model of the manorhouse out of lightweight board, corrugated cardboard and coloured paper. During the workshop, all the students took the initiative in familiarising themselves with the details, forms, colours and scale of the manor-house through photographs, drawings, models and the experiences gained in their own visit.

FLOATING CITY

Architecture workshop at the Lahti Muotohuoltamo Centre, 19.4.2012 The Floating City architecture workshop, dreamed up by the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth and held in the Muotohuoltamo Centre, was one of the events aimed at children that formed part of the City of Lahtiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s contribution to the World Design Capital 2012 programme. We have become used to the idea that buildings represent permanence and are an expression of time. They stand in place for as long as thousands of years. But how would it be if things were different? If cities were in a state of flux, changing daily. If buildings floated and changed position... How would we find our way from one place to another? What would the urban space be like in such a city? The idea behind the workshop was to stimulate thought about urban planning from a crazy viewpoint. Those taking part in the workshop first considered the answers to questions about space, building and moving, and then built a model of an imaginary floating city, together. As a basis for the workshop, the students looked at a series of photos of exciting-looking buildings and cities that were flying, floating, or moving in some other way. Then each child conceptualised, designed and built his or her own 3D model out of various lightweight materials, which was then suspended from a large gas-filled balloon. The challenge was to keep the construction as light as possible so that it would be supported by the balloon. The building itself could be a church, a school, or even a skyscraper. When the workshop was over, all the children who had taken part went outside together and released the city of all the buildings they had made, to float in the sky suspended from balloons. The workshop was led by architect Niina Hummelin, head teacher of the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth.

CHRISTMAS WINDOW FOR THE KIRJA BOOKSHOP December 2012

Maisa Laine, owner of the Kirja bookshop in Helsinki’s Lasipalatsi, invited Arkki students to decorate the bookshop display window for Christmas. Arkki’s 4 to 6-year-old students made twin gnomes out of clay. One of the twins went home to spend Christmas with the student, while the other went to the bookshop to watch over the bustle of Christmas preparations in the shop window. Groups of 4 to 6-yearolds and 7 to 9-year-olds breathed new life into withdrawn library books using origami and PopUp techniques. The insides of the books were turned into Christmas trees and more gnomes, and then assembled into a big Christmas tree with branches revealing the children’s 3D work. A flurry of snowflakes made by the children also floated over the tree. The 10 to 14-year-olds built a model of a miniature town at the base of the window, which was illuminated and cast a silhouette over the display during the hours of darkness.The Christmas window was built by three of Arkki’s Monday evening groups, led by architect Niina Hummelin.

CHURCH ARCHITECTURE

Workshop and exhibition at the University of Helsinki’s Think Corner 16-17.10.2012 One of the University of Helsinki’s contributions to the Helsinki World Design Capital 2012 programme was the Faith and Urban Space exhibition at the University’s Think Corner (Tiedekulma) exhibition space from 16 to 26.10.2012. The exhibition examined the impact and visibility of different faiths on cities seen from different viewpoints, through the medium of lectures, workshops and exhibitions. Over a two-week period, Think Corner offered a complex programme including news flashes and discussions organised by the Faculty of Theology, about the impact faith has had on the cityscape at different times, how visible different faiths are, and on what conditions different faiths have the right to use urban space. There was also the opportunity to take a look at the Faculty’s current research. An open workshop for children and young people on Church Architecture was held on 16-17.10.2012 in conjunction with a seminar organised at the University’s Think Corner. The workshop took a look at the vocabulary of form of religious buildings and their location in different urban spaces. In the ’HandsOn’ part of the workshop, the youngsters used white plasticine to form solid models of religious buildings, which were then used to study the form of the buildings and their relationship with the cityscape. During the two-week Faith and Urban Space exhibition, a series of PopUp facade relief models of church architecture made by Arkki students was on show in the display window at the University’s Think Corner. The leader of the workshop and organiser of the PopUp exhibition was Arkki teacher and architect, Sini Koivisto.

INTERNATIONAL COLLABORATION

ARCHITECTURE CAMP IN ST PETERSBURG St Petersburg and Zerkalny, 3-11.8.2012

The Danish Cultural Institute organised an international art, design and architecture camp in Russia from 3 to 11.8.2012. Some 28 students aged 12-17 and 6 teachers from St Petersburg (Russia), Horsen (Denmark) and Helsinki (Finland) took part in the camp. In the Arkki section, there were 8 students and 2 teachers, who travelled by train and bus. At the international camp, which received financial support from the EU, the students who came from art schools got to know each other’s culture, art and architecture. The students visited the Children’s Design Centre in the Anichkov Palace in St Petersburg and stayed at the Zerkalny Countryside Centre for Youth Creativity. The different parts of the camp programme were prepared by the participating art schools. The programme began with a walk round St Petersburg to take a look at the architecture of the city. It then continued at the Zerkalny Centre with a presentation day given by each of the three countries. The Russian, Danish and Finnish art-school students and teachers told the others about their home country, talked about the curriculum of their school and prepared an evening programme of assignments and competitions for all. The last part of the programme was the Bridge project aimed at uniting people and cultures. The youngsters divided up into five working groups each of which carried out its own work in different ways using animation, graphics, model-making and installations. The results of the camp were on show in St Petersburg on Europe Day, 22.9.2012, as part of an Open-door event at the Danish Cultural Institute. The leaders of the international camp were Galina Korneva and Ivan Gerts of the Children’s Design Centre at the St Petersburg Palace of Youth Creativity (Russia), Jannik Broz Lorentzen and Helle Vinter from the Art School of the Horsens Art Museum (Denmark) and architects Minna-Mari Paija and Mari Jaakonaho from the Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth (Finland).

BETWEEN REALITY AND POSSIBLE FICTION DISCOVER PROPORTIONS, STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION IN SPACE AND BODY 7. – 15.8.2011

Arkki organized Scandinavian architecture workshop for youth in Broby Camp School Center in the south coast of Finland in summer 2009. Participants came from three Scandinavian countries. Iceland, The Reykjavik School of Arts and Center for Visual Art in EastIceland, Denmark, Tvillingehallen Art School and from Finland, School of Architecture for Children and Youth. All together there were 25 students, aged 13 to 19 and 8 teachers, architects and artists. These three countries’ co-operation work started in June 2008 when participants from Arkki School of Architecture for Children and Youth (Finland) and Tvillingehallen Art School (Denmark) went to Iceland (Eidar) for one week long workshop called NATURE – MANMADE STRUCTURES. This summer workshop is part two workshop called NATURE FORM – ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE. One idea of these workshops is that each participating country is supposed to arrange a workshop once in their country between years 2008-2010.

NATURE FORM IN ARCHITECTURE 9.8. – 15.8.2010 Røsnæs, Denmark

The year 2010 Scandinavian Architecture Workshop for Youth was organized by Billedskolen i Tvillingehallen, Copenhagen Children’s school of Art. The Workshop took place in Røsnæs, in a school colony called Kajestenshuset, on the western coast of Sjælland. View over the sea, stony beach and green areas were inspiration for various workshops and projects. Participants came from three Skandinavian countries. These three countries co-operation work started in June 2008 in Eidar, Iceland, with the workshop called NATURE - MANMADE STRUCTURES. The year 2009 the workshop was organized in Broby, Finland, by “Arkki” by the name NATURE FORM – ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE. The part 3 workshop called NATURE FORMS IN ARCHITECTURE was held in Denmark. One idea of these workshops was that each participating country arranges a workshop once in their country between years 2008-2010. Now the series is completed.

NATURE FORM – ECOLOGICAL ARCHITECTURE 10.8 – 16.8.2009 Broby, Finland

SPACE : BOUNDARIES NATURE AND MANMADE STRUCTURES 22.-29.6.2008 Eidar, Iceland

The Reykjavik Art School and Eidar Art Centre arranged one week workshop for children at Eidar in East Iceland. The invited participants from three different countries were 32 young people aged between 13 and 16 years old and five teachers. The children came from Copenhagen Childrens Art School in Tvillingehallen, Denmark and from ARKKI School of Architecture for Children and Youth, Finland. From Iceland some pupils came from the Art School in Reykjavik and others who were selected by Eidar Art Center came from East Iceland. Each school prepared a short introduction about their own country and culture. The aim was to show different examples of the natural landscape as well as the built environment. The groups talked about the modern architecture and on the otherhand about the oldest building tradition which uses natural materials found in situ. Each group also introduced examples or contemporary artists, landscape architects or architects who worked closely with nature and who realized site-specifi c installations and projects. The program for the week included trips to the surroundings, several short exercises on site. The children learned to deal with natural or artificial materials and gained the idea of space by working on a sketchbook and on three-dimensional project works. Children worked individually and in groups from different countries. During the evenings were organized social activities and discussions to enhance communication and to share ideas.

PARTICIPATORY PLANNING

HERNESAARI PARTICIPATORY PLANNING 9.8. – 15.8.2010 Røsnæs, Denmark

This project was an invitation from the Helsinki City Planning Office for the pupils in Arkki to make a ”competition entry” in an invited competition in the centre of Helsinki. In addition to the 3 chosen architect consultants, three groups of citizens were asked to enter their proposal to the given task. Two were groups of local residents and the third was a group of children, students from Arkki. It was not a competition in the traditional sense, since no one was selected a winner, but instead all the entries were displayed in public to evoke public discussion among citizens and to gather even more ideas for the development of the city plan of the area. Hernesaari area is situated in the shorefront of southern Helsinki. The total area consists of 32 hectares. It is former dockyard area and will be converted into housing area for around 4000 people when the dockyards are moved to eastern Helsinki. The key aims of Hernesaari’s new local plan are to achieve a pleasant, high quality maritime residential environment. The area seeks its own identity and wishes to create a new, original design for living. The project started with pedagogical planning in Arkki in 2006. The planning project was completed in May 2007, and all the entries were publicly presented in September 2007. All the 6 different entries were presented in Helsinki in two public exhibitions and public events to evoke discussion among citizens. There was also a website where anyone could write down their opinions about the future of the area. The different solutions and the public discussion served as the starting point for the Helsinki City Planning Office to carry out the master plan of the area. In Arkki 10 groups (around 100 children) took part in this adventure. All age groups from 3-17 were involved.

BACKGROUND FOR THE PLANNING TASK: HERNESAARI LOCAL MASTER PLAN IN HELSINKI Hernesaari area is situated in the shorefront of southern Helsinki. It is former dockyard area and will be converted into housing area when the dockyards are moved to eastern Helsinki. The shipyard will close during the years 2010 and 2012, and remove any buildings as stipulated in the rental agreement. The Hernesaari local plan area in question is zoned for industrial, commercial and harbor uses in the 2002 Master Plan. The area is 33 hectares. The south-east shoreline and the narrow south-western extension are designated for a city park. The southern tip is zoned for public utilities and associated services. In the forthcoming Hernesaari local plan it is intended for the main body of the peninsula to be reserved for apartment blocks, workspace, and services associated with tourism. Arkki children visited Helsinki City Planning office in autumn 2012. There they heard which of their planning ideas – such as the sea front park, canals and horseshoe shaped harbour – ended up into the final masterplan.