Turku (FI)

In the Complete Site Folder, you will find floor plans, elevations, and a section of the office/business building at Vähäheikkiläntie 52, which will be most likely preserved. The smaller buildings, however, are represented only by exterior photographs and a separate summary of their current uses, as their future remains open for consideration.

Competitors are not expected to provide detailed designs for the reuse of the buildings but should instead propose potential uses—whether for the existing buildings or the plots they occupy— at an urban planning and design level.

As a starting point, parking spaces should be arranged within each property’s own lot or, alternatively, in (a) shared, centralised parking solution(s). Competitors do not need to account for the parking needs of properties located outside the project area.

We find that when the drawings are printed for the evaluation, their readability would be much compromised if the scales were reduced. Therefore, even if the specified scales are slightly unconventional, we kindly ask competitors to adhere to them to ensure clarity and facilitate a fair comparison of proposals.

Recordings of the Site Visit on the project site and the walk back after the visit (on the reflection area) are added to the Complete Site Folder > New Docs After Launch

Unfortunately, the Stormwater Study (Ramboll Finland Oy 2024) is available only in Finnish and is not accessible to the competitors. However, the main guidelines and findings from the study have been summarised in the site brief. The diagram on page 22 is also based on the study. More detailed area reservations, drawn according to the stormwater study, can be found in the Complete Site Folder (FI-TURKU-SS-M1.dwg).Please note that it’s not necessary to copy these directly—competitors may propose alternative locations for the channels and basins.

Yes, smaller additional paths—such as park walkways—can be placed on the slope of the stormwater channel. However, all areas near the channel must tolerate occasional wetting. In particular, if the slope is gentle, a path can function well. Building close to a steep slope is more risky, as the stability of the soft clay soil is poor and the edges may collapse easily.

The pipelines run under the slope, which is situated on the southern side of the Varsoja Ditch.

The proposed dimensioning of Vähäheikkiläntie is based on the long-term goal of accommodating high-quality pedestrian and cycling infrastructure on both sides of the street. Competitors may with well-justified reasoning propose a narrower cross-section for Vähäheikkiläntie. At the very start of the street  the existing street width is 25 meters which should be considered the minimum. (It is hoped that the Hirvensalo Bridge project will progress in the future, reducing the need to allocate additional car lanes on Vähäheikkiläntie at the expense of pedestrian and cycling facilities.

The cross section 1:800 is to be presented in a north–south direction, located at a relevant point between Uittamontie and Ispoisten puistotie roads. The purpose of the drawing is to illustrate how the proposed development on the project site integrates with the surrounding urban fabric on the northern and southern sides of the project area.