Välimetsäntie House, 1995
Oulunkylä, Helsinki
The detached house was designed for a small plot in the middle of the old small house area. The buildings of the neighbourhood vary greatly both in type and age.
The program was for a single family included a side entrance next to the street providing room for work or a second household, if necessary. In relation to total floor area, the house contained many bedrooms. The first floor was realized by forming a separate children’s bedroom department at one end of the house with a small common room and a balcony. The main bedroom with an adjacent terrace is located at the other end of the high-ceilinged living room and the bridge by the entrance hall.
The project was based on ideas of what makes a good small house, and was derived from close, long-term cooperation between client and architect. The financial parameters were strict, but there was genuine craftsmanship available, backed up by the client’s liberal attitudes. Solutions that had been dismissed in commercial production could now be applied to the client’s own house.
Thermally insulated blocks of lightweight aggregate concrete, coated light grey, were chosen as the construction material. The living room wall facing the afternoon sun was realized as a gluelam-framed window wall, characterized by long, sheltering eaves with their diagonal supports. The sauna was placed in a low, wooden courtyard wing. The high, oblique entrance hall is made of horizontal glazing sections.
Välimetsäntie 8 House has been published The Finnish Architectural Review Arkkitehti 2-3/1996
