Project name
Location
Design
Study area
Client

Kurttila urban design
Kurttila, Espoo
2006 - 2007
17ha
Espoo City Planning Department

The city of Espoo asked Avanto Architects together with a landscape architect and a geotechnical engineer to study how more housing area could be integrated in a detailed plan for Kurttila. The area is characterised by Espoo river meeting the sea and traditional old housing. The task was challenging as the planning area was near historical inhabited areas, it was typical open agricultural cultural landscape, situated just next to a nature reserve. Moreover, the part of the riverside field reserved for new building was so low that the risk of flooding was remarkable.
Our plan grouped the housing in "islands" as traditionally done in the agricultural landscape. The efficiency of building was raised in order to get more housing area and at the same time keep as much area open as possible and to save resources. We proposed more exact specifications for building to get a harmonious whole: the building shapes should be similar to simple post-war houses, the colours should be light, the roofs pitched and the courtyards planted.