Finnish Design Shop / Turku, Finland
The firm’s new headquarters breaks the mould of industrial designs by drawing inspiration from the surrounding forest and natural environment
Words By Emily Martin
PROJECT INFO
Client: NREP IV FinCo 8 Oy
Architect: Avanto Architects Ltd www.avant.to
Interior Designer: Studio Joanna Laajisto www.joannalaajisto.com
Landscape designer: VSU Oy
Size: 12,129 sq m
Construction: 2021
Completion: Summer 2021
MAKING SPACE FOR home and school learning was a common feat many of us endured during the lockdowns of 2020 and 2021. Adaptations to spaces indoors and out were limited to what we could get online for home delivery and build with often self-taught skills. It consequently led to boom in e-commerce, with Nordic design brand, Finnish Design Shop (FDS), also experiencing rapid growth during its store closure period throughout the pandemic, thanks to its online sales. Such growth has resulted in a massive new building for the company as delivered by Helsinki-based practice Avanto Architects with its interior design by Studio Joanna Laajisto. Together, they have delivered a new space, which is also the new headquarters of the company, comprising a logistics centre delivering products to over 100 countries, a showroom, and a restaurant sited in the Finnish city of Turku.
The site has been landscaped to include as many trees and shrubbery as possible to meld with its surroundings. Image Credit: Anders Portman / www.Kuvio.Com
The building was a design task challenge; the large-scale building is mainly formed according to the requirements of the automated robot warehouse inside, and there was no possibility to articulate the building with massing or roof form owing to its location near an airport. Whilst also sited next to the Turku city ring road, the client nevertheless didn’t want its location to limit the design to a ‘simple structure’, but instead to design a building representative of the company’s values of high quality and easy to approach design.
Far from being simply an ‘elaborate shed’, the Finnish Design Shop is designed to have an interior that encourages exiting to the great outdoors just outside. Image Credit: Anders Portman / www.Kuvio.Com
The exterior is one that hints at tree trunks. Image Credit: Anders Portman / www.Kuvio.Com
Avanto Architects say: ‘Even though the building couldn’t talk about its use by its form, we didn’t want to design just ‘a decorated shed’ as described in the classic book Learning from Las Vegas. We found the concept for the building in the near surroundings. Right north from the building plot, there is a nature conservation area and the third biggest boulder from the ice age called the Devil’s Nest.’
A forest theme develops and is notable in the building’s facades, which use a threedimensional pattern, hinting of tree trunks in a surrounding forest, whilst maintaining as many actual trees as possible on the plot. The area is landscaped with natural forest undergrowth and stones excavated from the site. The car park is divided into smaller units with green areas with domestic trees and vegetation found in the wild nature. The building’s large windows offer unobstructed views to the surrounding forest and there is direct access to outdoors both from the restaurant’s terrace, and from the first-floor office spaces through a long balcony.
The timetable of the project, which started in late spring 2020, was tight. With the building needing to be in use by summer of 2021, so as not to impact the coming Christmas sales, Avanto Architects opted for readymade concrete formliners, by RECKLI, with a black pigment. The product allows for the creation of unique textures, forms, graphics and even photos. Avanto Architects comment: ‘Even though the relief is just 15mm deep, the appearance of the surface changes according to the sun angle making the pattern look deeper and more three-dimensional. The pattern introduces a smaller scale to the large-scale façade surface. The relief is visible only when you walk near the wall making the approach of the building interesting.’
It further includes large windows to offer unobstructed views to the surrounding wilderness and natural landscapes provided by a forest. Image Credit: Anders Portman / www.Kuvio.Com
Wooden surfaces throughout the entire bring warmth and a natural feeling to the interior, especially in the offices and restaurant space. The furniture was designed to complement the colourful furniture produced by the Finnish Design Shop itself. Image Credit: Mikko Ryhänen
The main entrance vestibule and first floor balcony are clad with wood to contrast the black concrete surfaces. Wooden windows and doors also bring warmth to the exterior of the building, with wood and nature also being key themes for the interior space. Designer Joanna Laajisto, from Studio Joanna Laajisto, used solid pine and ash wood both in the offices and in the cafeteria-restaurant.
Wooden surfaces throughout the entire bring warmth and a natural feeling to the interior, especially in the offices and restaurant space. The furniture was designed to complement the colourful furniture produced by the Finnish Design Shop itself. Image Credit: Mikko Ryhänen
The entrance to the building is through a showroom. The high space with glass curtain walls showcases the building to its surroundings. The space is characterised by a long, straight staircase, made of two massive glu-lam beans, designed by Avanto Architects, which lead to the first-floor office spaces. The whole gallery level opens to the logistics hall with the ever-moving robot collection system through full-width windows.
Wooden surfaces throughout the entire bring warmth and a natural feeling to the interior, especially in the offices and restaurant space. The furniture was designed to complement the colourful furniture produced by the Finnish Design Shop itself. Image Credit: Mikko Ryhänen
Wooden surfaces throughout the entire bring warmth and a natural feeling to the interior, especially in the offices and restaurant space. The furniture was designed to complement the colourful furniture produced by the Finnish Design Shop itself. Image Credit: Mikko Ryhänen
Laajisto designed many of the tables and seating to complement the colourful furniture from Finnish Design Shop’s collection. The large 3m doorways and big windows create a feeling of lightness and space, whilst the design also pays extra attention to the acoustics of the whole building to create a soft and calm atmosphere. The view from the office floor is to the logistics centre, where logistics operations are run by the robots of the automation system.
Wooden surfaces throughout the entire bring warmth and a natural feeling to the interior, especially in the offices and restaurant space. The furniture was designed to complement the colourful furniture produced by the Finnish Design Shop itself.
The building was the first BREEAM Excellent certified logistics building in Finland, the second highest level of BREEAM certification. The energy needed in the building is produced by geothermal heat, which is powered by electricity from solar panels.
Wooden surfaces throughout the entire bring warmth and a natural feeling to the interior, especially in the offices and restaurant space. The furniture was designed to complement the colourful furniture produced by the Finnish Design Shop itself.
Many surfaces are clad with wood to contrast the black concrete outside
KEY SUPPLIERS
Architectural elements
Studio Joanna Laajisto
Lighting design
Studio Joanna Laajisto
Custom furniture
Studio Joanna Laajisto
Showroom furniture
Finnish Design Shop
www.finnishdesignshop.com
