House Riihi | OOPEAA Office for Peripheral Architecture

The commissioned project is located in Alajärvi, a small village in eastern Ostrobothnia in Finland. The client is a family with an entrepreneur father, and artist mother and their two sons. They needed a house with spaces to live in accompanied with spaces for their hobbies and a studio to serve as an atelier. The site is located in a valley-like area next to a small island of forest on the side of a farm field. The view OF the valley with the field has a strong presence in the house.

The goal was to design a house with its accompanying buildings in such a way that it blends in with the surrounding nature through its shape and the materials used. The building is made of wood with its exterior, interior and frame all in wood. Compressed wood has been used for insulation and paper has been used for sealing. The objective to create a healthy and ecological building that can be recycled when it reaches the end of its life cycle. All metal parts in the building are made of untreated aluminum. The entity can be heated with its four heat retaining fireplaces which also provide hot water to the house. The lighting system in the house is supplied with batteries charged with solar power. It is possible to live in the house without being dependent on the power grid and water and drainage grids. The house is a low energy building.

Creating a microclimate between the yard and the house with its accompanying buildings was necessary in order to minimize the impact of northerly wind in the yard. The buildings are organized around an inner yard in a natural way so that they give shelter and frame vistas into the surrounding landscape. The inner yard is paved with recycled cobblestone. The composition subtly recalls the feeling of a traditional Finnish farm, in which wooden cottages were arranged so as to form a protected inner courtyard, towards which the buildings opened. In this case, the three buildings give shape to an intimate garden, shaded by two large trees in the summer.

Despite the fact that the plan and the materials used are inspired by the traditional architecture characteristic of the area, the result is far from being vernacular. Rather, wood planking is coupled with generous pitched roofs clad in aluminum, reflecting the landscape in an unexpected way.

Appearing as AN L-shaped solid block, sheltered by the large roof, the main building is carved by a double skin system. The internal wall system weaves between the outer line and the interior, leaving room for protected terraces, marking the main entrance and the living room area, while the eave line confirms the shape. The “internal” cladding consists of larger spruce planks, while the outer shell is made of thinner and spaced splints. As the two surfaces meet, the effect is solid and opaque; as they separate, the outer skin protects the terrace without blocking the view to the yard or to the forest and giving unexpected depth to the volume itself. Wide windows, opening up the façade and again connecting here and there the interior to the exterior, lighten the solidity of the volume. This solution allows for the abstract form of the building masses and makes it possible to hide the system for water to drain from the roof. The wood in the exterior parts has intentionally been left untreated in order to allow it to naturally turn grey over time.

The interiors are arranged according to three different functions into areas with a different atmosphere. The garage and hobby space is very simple and has a sense of anonymity to its interior surfaces. The atelier has very high ceilings and its wooden surfaces, even floors, are painted white to make the light as even as possible. The scale and atmosphere of the house itself is very warm and cozy. The interior surfaces are of radially sawn spruce and they have been treated with soap in order to allow for the natural breathing of the light color wood. In the living room and kitchen the floors are of concrete, and of ash in the bedrooms.

The spacious living room is arranged in the corner and organized around a plastered-concrete fireplace, around which a ladder connects the ground floor to a mezzanine that serves as an intimate place to contemplate the view over the fields. The bedrooms and services are arranged along the external side of the eastern and southern wings, while the corridors can be used as a play area or reading room, overlooking the inner yard through their wide openings.