闭环行动·阿尔托大学丨芬兰赫尔辛基

Firm： Aalto University

Type： Industrial › Warehouse

STATUS： Built

YEAR： 2025

SIZE： 5000 sqft - 10,000 sqft

BUDGET： $1M - 5M

Photos： Decopic / Mika Huisman (16), Decopic / Mika Huisman (1)

The City of Helsinki’s new service building for recreation areas is a pilot project in circular construction. The building comprises a heated maintenance hall, social facilities, and a cold storage hall for sports equipment.

The load-bearing structure consists of reused glulam pillars and beams, which are also incorporated into wall structures and upper façade cladding. Concrete roof tiles, windows, interior finishes, and fixed furniture have been salvaged from demolished buildings. The aluminium panels, sourced from a demolished office building, were flipped to reveal the untreated yet aged surface, creating a distinctive aesthetic effect. The oak windows, originating from a 1930s office building, were repaired, and insulated glazing units were added to the existing frames in the heated spaces to meet current standards. By reusing materials, embodied carbon is preserved rather than released. All components are designed for maintenance and disassembly.

The building is located on Mustikkamaa, a recreational island characterized by a sensitive rocky pine forest and a nearby meadow habitat supporting diverse insect species. The courtyard’s soil and vegetation extend the meadow ecosystem to the edge of the site. A gravel yard replaces asphalt to create a permeable surface, allowing all rainwater to infiltrate on site. The building footprint follows the location of the previous structure, minimizing land-use impact after the contaminated former building was demolished.