Butterfly in Forest
Markku HEDMAN (FI)
architect
Europan 8 Lahti
runner-up
This island is a place with a unique identity: a wooden citadel rising up from the water like a crown. The design is based on an idea of wall-like buildings which are situated directly by the shoreline. These smoothly curved volumes surround and protect a verdant forest which offers lots of possibilities for recreation and social engagements. The continuous volumes are broken up by entrances and courtyards which provide views through the buildings and connect the forest to the water. This openness creates a feeling of being sheltered but not isolated. In this place, you are living in constant contact with nature; between water and forest. Multipurpose buildings and public squares are situated with direct contact from all apartments thus making this place a social community for individuals.
Site informations
Lahti
Synthetic site file EN
This project is connected to the following themes
Housing - Ways of life
The idea of the inhabited border that marks the boundary between land and water creates a characteristic tension between inside and outside: the housing units mark the point of interface, simultaneously maintaining relations with the interiorised wooden courtyard and with the water.
Shared spaces - A Frame for social life
A sheltered perimeter of housing and public buildings on the edges of the island produces an interior landscaped park, connected to the shoreline at only four points, creating a sense of protected public space.
Nature - Limit / Reconnection
The project proposes a "residential island" creating a built limit between the water and the inside park.