House N N gets international interest once again as it is being published in Diario Design online magazine. Diario Design is the first spanish language magazine that publishes stories about architecture and design on a daily basis. Read the publication here. 

Archeus has designed the new interior of the Radisson Blu Plaza hotel lobby and its meeting place HUB. Plaza hotel’s HUB is a new urban meeting place in the city centre of Helsinki. In HUB one can enjoy, work and dine around the clock. Champagne is flowing in Veuve Lounge and pop-up stores offer, for example, design by Mirkka Metsola, who also is responsible for designing the working clothes of the HUB staff. The Plaza hotel is located on the crossroads of Mikonkatu and Vilhonkatu. The hotel will get a new heart of its own, as HUB, a combination of a lobby café, bar and lounge opens. HUB and conference rooms are the first phase of the total renewal of Plaza.

"We believe that HUB will be a cozy living room for our hotel guests and why not for everyone in Helsinki. HUB is an easy gathering point before heading to theatre, shopping spree or the casino next door", says Inari Lehtinen, the General Manager of Plaza. 

The project reflects the duality of the ensemble’s architecture: the contrast between the old part from the 1920’s with its woodcarvings, marble floors and roof decorations, and the part designed at the beginning of the millennium with its plainness, steel, glass and white surfaces. In HUB the use of marble connects the modern space with the vintage atmosphere.

See more pictures of the whole Plaza project here. 

Pave Mikkonen was one of two keynote speakers at Lybecker crafts and design school’s anniversary seminar. The other speaker was designer Mikko Paakkanen.  Mikkonen talked about how interior design and architecture should be thought as a whole. Mikkonen presented projects by Archeus where the interior design supports the architecture and vice versa.

Archeus is involved in the design of transforming the old SOK mill and silos into loft apartments. The project is especially interesting because it is difficult to find old industrial milieus suitable for loft apartments.

The urban plan for the area was finished in 2010. In the next few years the old Toppila harbour area will be transformed into a new 5000 resident neighbourhood with its own services. A new bridge over Toppilansalmi will shorten the distance to the Oulu city centre to only a couple of kilometres.

The demolition work on site has already begun and new apartments are expected to finish already during next year. Parts of the silos not suitable for living are torn down to give better views from the saved parts of the building. New apartments in the high silos will enjoy a clear view to the sea over Nallikari.

 The building is listed and extra attention has been paid to the design of the new openings. It is very important that the building will maintain its original character also after the changes.

Check out more sketches on Archeus website and read an article about the project on published by Yle.

The Modern Sauna by Allan Konya features saunas by Archeus.  Check out our private house projects to see more Archeus saunas.

The Modern Sauna is an 'everything you need to know' type of book about the origin, history and design of saunas and especially Finnish sauna. The Modern Sauna is an altered and extended version of The International Handbook of Finnish Sauna published in 1973 by Allan Konya and Alewyn Burger.

Future Learning Finland is a national education export programme, exporting Finnish top-quality educational know-how and learning solutions globally. By finding and getting the top players in the industry involved, the program aims to match them with the best partners to export the best solutions.

Archeus has been involved in Future Learning Finland –projects. Archeus visited Portugal and presented school projects to the local education authorities. Archeus has also hosted guests from Kazakhstan. Kazakhstan was interested in the Finnish innovations in education.

In the field of education Archeus is developing Future School of Finland – today brand, services and products. Focus in this work is to re-define needs and clarification for the future learning environment by doing planning, furnishing and technology development work in the completely new and different way. This match better to the 21^st century learning and the world the kids of us are living. This work is done together with Finpeda a Finnish education export company and also member of a Future Learning Finland (FLF)

Read about the House N N on designboom magazine. Designboom.com is the world’s first web-based art, architecture and design magazine and it has more than 4 million readers monthly from 190 countries.

The city of Rovaniemi renewed the composition of their cityscape advisory team. The aim of the advisory team is to be a part in the design of significant building projects in the city. The team then gives a statement to the planning authority after analysing the plans.

Pave Mikkonen was chosen together with architect Piia Ilonen to be an assessor in the advisory team.

“We asked architects for offers to be an assessor in the team. We ended up choosing Pave and Piia because of their extensive experience from design work, as well as, their previous experience in this kind of advisory groups.” says the head of the team, city architect Jorma Korva.

Some images of Archeus' design for the Future School -project at Pohjankartano school appear in a new publication by Tekes, the Finnish Funding Agency for Technology and Innovation.

The publication, Käyttäjälähtöiset tilat - Uutta ajattelua suunnitteluun ("User oriented spaces - New thinking for space design"; link to PDF, only in Finnish), by the Tila-project presents current examples and trends of design of premises. The writers, designers and researchers, cover topics such as work places, learning environments, senior housing, and public spaces.

Challenges such as changing work habits and demands for more efficient use of resources and energy are discussed, and practical advice is provided for managing transformations in work environments.

Archeus is working on a group of family houses to Pikisaari. Pikisaari is a small island located only a short walk from the Oulu market square.

Pikisaari was a busy industrial region from the 17^th century until the mid 20^th century. Pikisaari was known for shipbuilding. Nowadays the island is a home to an artist community of dozens of artists and craftsmen. The city of Oulu supports the cultural activity in Pikisaari. It is also a home to a hands and crafts school.

Pikisaari consists of small scale wooden houses. The new building respects the old environment with a modern touch.

In 2010 the city of Oulu hosted an architecture competition to create more homes and workspaces to Pikisaari. A group of artists of different backgrounds was formed and together with Archeus they won the competition. The plot consists of three two family houses and common buildings. The design process is in progress and construction begins in spring 2012. 

Houses in Finland features two Archeus projects: White house and House 3 trees.

Houses in Finland presents 33 individually designed homes from the turn of the century to the end of the 2010s. The book gives an extensive look to the architecture of Finnish single family houses. Get your copy at the Rakennustieto online shop.

White house is a wooden house clad with painted timber battens. On three sides the battens are brought forward to create a sheltered terrace zone.

House 3 trees is Pave Mikkonen’s own house. House 3 trees is a study of a contemporary courtyard setting consisting of three separate yards protected from the wind.

See the featured projects and more single family houses by Archeus on the website.

Archeus is working on a new development in the town center of Levi.

AsOy Levin Stara comprises several street level shop or restaurant spaces and 13 apartments on the first floor and in the attic.

As well as the outer appearance of the building, the apartments have a modern, unique character. Still, they remain true to the town plan's alpine/lappish spirit. The claddings are mostly natural materials, such as slate, solid timber and clapboarding treated with a dark brown stain.

The apartments, all with a fireplace and a sauna, have interiors with a cozy ski-lodge atmosphere, also applying walls clad in stained wood. The floorings are of bleached oak parquet or high-grade clinker tiling.

The apartments and shops are currently on pre-sale by the developer as well as Habita.

Europcar was featured in the 2/2011 issue of Teräsrakenne.

Teräsrakenne is a professional magazine dedicated to high quality steel building.

The featured project is the new headquarters and logistics centre for the car rental company Europcar. The challenge in the building’s facade design was to create a facade which identifies with the client’s brand but is till versatile enough to serve the changing needs the building. Bevels, horizontal moldings and color blocks break up the otherwise long facade. Paroc-elements were used in the facade.

See more pictures and info about Europcar on Archeus website.

This year we have been hosting an art exhibition here at Archeus. Paintings and sculptures by artists Pekka Homanen, Jaakko Mattila and Veikko Törmänen have been on display on our gallery space.

Pekka Homanen builds his art work on a mathematic formula 1 1=3. His paintings are as life itself, well planned, but the result is completely unexpected.

Jaakko Mattila is a very familiar artist to all of us working at Archeus since he had his studio in the same building. His works have often been on display here. In his art Mattila has lately been trying to be as mediocre as he can. He says the mistakes in the process are essential.

Veikko Törmänen's work is influenced by basic forms and colours. Paintings have evolved to be three-dimensional and almost sculpture like. Visuality without a story is the key to Törmänens work.

The opening of the exhibition was held in January 2011.

Jaakko Mattila's new exhibition Lohikäärmeen vuosi, Year of the Dragon will open on January 20th 2012 at Oulu Museum of Art. 

Europcar was featured in the 5/2011 issue of Form magazine

Form is the oldest design magazine in the world. Form covers architecture and design in the Nordic countries.

The featured project is the new headquarters and logistics centre for the car rental company Europcar. The building is located in Vantaa close to the Helsinki airport. The building uses Europcar’s signature colours and acts as a public business card for the company on the side of the busy Tikkurilantie road.

See more pictures and info about Europcar on Archeus website.

Archeus wishes everybody merry and peaceful Christmas time!

Archeus is getting ready for Christmas! 

Five Archeus projects are featured in the book Arkkitehtuuria Oulussa 2011, Architecture in Oulu 2011.

Arkkitehtuuria Oulussa 2011 is the fourth book in the book series presenting architecture in the city of Oulu. The theme of the 2011 book is ecology and energy efficient building.

Co-op Lehtorousku consists of low-rise apartment buildings. The buildings are white on the outside but feature a rich colour in the recesses. The staircase breaks away from the building creating an interesting twist to the otherwise smooth facade.

Co-op Oulun Kaakkurinsiipi is a row house block in Oulu. The row houses are spread in a fan-formation along a street. The end facades made of brick rise and fall as a unified street facade.

House B&V is a complex of two private houses on a steep hillside plot by the Oulu river. The buildings are situated on the plot so that the river views can be enjoyed from all of the rooms.

House J&H is a single family house in the Oulujoki riverside. The building consists of two parts that differ from each other by colour, material and size.

House Silvola is a single family house. The building consists of two wings connected by a glazed staircase. The shingle like board surface on the facade continues on the indoor surfaces.

The mock-up rooms at Radisson Blu Plaza are now finished and ready to be test used. The construction of the whole hotel begins in January 2012. 

The hotel consists of an older part originally built in 1920 and a newer part built in 1999. The new interior modifies to the history of each room.

The same concept of the headboard turning from the wall into the ceiling and back to the opposite wall is carried through on both sides. Colours and material choices give the different sides their character. On the new side the headboard is upholstered and on the old side the headboard consists of wooden panels. Television, lighting and electricity are integrated to the headboard construction.

On the old side existing furniture and lighting fixtures by Alvar Aalto were utilized in the new plan. On the new side the Double Bubble lamp by Eero Aarnio was used creatively by turning it upside down and attaching it to the ceiling.

Archeus was featured on the #1 issue of Arctic trend.

The article was written by Annkathrin Lundqvist, a trend spotter and the author of the Arctic trend –blog. Arctic trend is a small trend and design office located in Luleå, the gateway to Swedish Lapland. Besides the blog Arctic trend does trend casting, trend spotting and seminars, future workshops and product development.

Annkathrin also visited Archeus in Oulu and wrote a piece about her visit in her blog.

Check out Archeus in the Arctic trend issue #1!