Alusta Research Pavilion - Architectural space as a vehicle for environmental discourse
Alusta research pavilion explores nature-culture relations and offers a place for encounters between humans and non-human animals in urban space. The pavilion functions as a platform for environmental discourse, both on the level of its form and materiality, and the different activities which take place there. It comprises a pollinator friendly meadow and structures made with clay in different forms. Alusta was realized by a multidisciplinary educational group led by Suomi/Koivisto architects.
Local
Finland
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Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
As an individual in partnership with other persons
First name: Elina Last name: Koivisto Gender: Female Nationality: Finland Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Intiankatu 34 B 6 Town: Helsinki Postal code: 00560 Country: Finland Direct Tel:+358 40 7035865 E-mail:elina.2.koivisto@aalto.fi Website:https://www.suomikoivisto.fi
First name: Maiju Last name: Suomi Gender: Female Nationality: Finland Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Untamontie 9 K 70 Town: Helsinki Postal code: 00160 Country: Finland Direct Tel:+358 40 8319811 E-mail:maiju.suomi@aalto.fi Website:https://www.suomikoivisto.fi
Alusta Research Pavilion in Helsinki in the courtyard of the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum offers a platform for multispecies encounters from July 2022 to October 2023. The temporary architectural intervention is formed with raw and fired clay, wood, and transient plant life. Its decaying wood blocks, porous clay structures, and pollinator-friendly plantings offer shelter and nutrition for different insects and birds in a densely built urban environment. Fungi and biochar take part in caring for the soil as the flowering perennials bring multisensory joy for people.
The pavilion is a venue for learning and environmental discourse, both on the level of its materiality and multisensory experience, and the activities which take place there. Its materials have a low environmental impact throughout their whole lifecycle. Simple construction techniques were chosen to allow communal and educational participation throughout the process of making and caring for the space. The architectural intervention increases biodiversity on this former parking lot, on the ecological and cultural level. Its aesthetics bind with its ethics as the spatial experience becomes together with countless human and non-human actors.
The project led by architects Maiju Suomi and Elina Koivisto was realized through collaboration with diverse stakeholders, such as ecologists, clay builders, material producers and architectural and design students. It engages people into societal discourse on our relationship with the more-than-human world through direct spatial experiences, expert discussions and educational program held in the space, and the media coverage of the project.
In the era of the climate crisis and loss of biodiversity, Alusta pavilion becomes a spatial tool for questioning human exceptionalism as a basis for making architecture. It offers a concrete living example of a new kind of a relationship between humans and their environment, one based on mutual care.
more than human entanglement
care
biodiversity
environmental discourse
community building
In architecture, the discourse on environmental sustainability has focused on the pragmatic and quantitative qualities of construction. Focus on the measurable level of material and energy consumption has left aside communication of ideas and meaning through spatial experiences. Alusta offers a more holistic approach towards sustainability. It is through the double function of being both an environmental act and its symbolic representation that architecture can be truly influential in society. On a practical level Alusta increases biodiversity in an urban setting, and creates free social space. Its structures are made of materials with low environmental impact, with techniques that take little fossil energy. On the level of cultural meanings Alusta questions the existing values which place humans as outside and above nature, guiding attention towards co-existence and relationality.
The project balances the needs of humans and the more than human community. Its pollinator friendly meadow plantings, decaying wood inoculated with fungi, nutritious compost soil, clay and biochar structures simultaneously serve people, insects, birds and other non-human animals. Raw clay present in structural elements and mortar demonstrates possibilities for low energy, low impact construction and material re-use. Biochar elements made of pulp industry by-product lignin exemplify material circulation as they can later be used to improve the soil.
Through its compelling aesthetics and visible location Alusta aims to create societal discussion and change. The process binds together sustainable architectural education and interdisciplinary collaboration. Located in a museum context Alusta reaches both design professionals, and broader public in a mindset open to rethink our relationship with nature. Educational and recreational programs in the space further open questions of sustainable land and material use, creative ecologies and interbeing. Media presence reinforces the impact.
Alusta explores the changing conception of humans in relation to other species and the life sustaining natural processes of the planet. To provide a tangible example of mutually beneficial co-existence, Alusta simultaneously creates well-being for humans and non-humans. Porous clay structures open passages and nesting space for insects. Simultaneously, their haptic materiality forms an interesting spatial experience for human visitors. Varied tactile biochar and clay surfaces awaken the sense of touch. Flowering perennials offer nourishment for pollinating insects and sensory joys for human beings. In Alusta, the embodied aesthetic experience of space opens through emotions in time. Sustainability is approached on the level of the imagination and creativity as well as through facts.
Changeability is coded into the aesthetic texture of Alusta. The continuous transformation of the space is tied to the cyclic rhythms of the more than human world. Clay erodes with water and time, plants grow, bloom and wither, fungi, algae, lichen, and moss begin to take over as time passes and moisture takes hold. Attention is guided towards other than human timescapes which sustain the liveability of the planet. Gradual changes, often too slow for human senses to observe, are enforced and made accessible for human experience, for example, through the use of raw clay prone to the effects of erosion.
The solid earthen structures of Alusta give rise to a feeling of weight and heaviness. In Finnish language, the word ‘care’ (huolenpito) also carries the meaning of holding the weight of sorrow. Alusta thus is a place for encountering the sadness of losing the lives and lifeways of countless non-human species, thus giving rise to a sense of empathy and interdependence. The designers hoped to create a place to resensitize ourselves to the different ways of existence of the nonhuman, to attune ourselves into their pace and let their ways of being open in and around ourselves.
Alusta as a word in the Finnish language signifies both ‘a platform’ and ‘to begin anew’. As a project it questions existing environmentally and socially detrimental practices and strives to create positive alternatives. It functions as an open platform for environmental discourse, and a laboratory for finding new ways of practicing architecture and encountering others. It is open by its nature, not aiming at ending in a fixed point but rather explorative and expansive.
In practical terms it is a public space accessible for all, open and free. Located on the courtyard of two Helsinki museums in the center of the city, it offers a respite from urban commercial spaces and allows for anyone to come and use it as they wish. It is a sanctuary for people, pollinating insects and birds. There is sensory enjoyment and a calm atmosphere offered for anyone, as well as nutrition, shelter and water for the non-human visitors. The cultural program is also free and open for all, and organized by various stakeholders.
The process of making Alusta was based on multidisciplinary collaboration and opening educational possibilities. Working with clay construction students and architectural students the designers chose manufacturing techniques that allowed participation and offered learning opportunities that at the time were lacking from the study programs at their respective universities. Simple techniques made it possible to open the construction process for students and the local community. Rammed earth and clay brick walls were made in workshops where information on sustainable construction methods was shared. Simultaneously these affordable simple techniques offered an element of empowerment for the makers by returning agency to their own hands. Making together also became a way of establishing community and means of alternative value-creation. A sense of connectedness and well-being not tied to monetary value arose, thus combating the idea of buildings as mere commodities.
Human citizens were able to take part in the construction of the pavilion and learn about the material and immaterial methods used through several open clay building and planting workshops. Participants learned e.g. how to transform their outdoor areas to more pollinator friendly ones, and how to use clay in homes and gardens. Residents of a neighboring building took part in bokashi-composting activities to create soil for the plant community of Alusta. As a permanent result a bokashi-composting system was established in the building.
During 2022 a wide range of program took place; construction workshops for students (see previous), nest building clay workshops of environmental thinking for families with young children, the results of which remain as part of the pavilion, sustainable architecture summer schools for high school students, school visits for students of different ages. Lecture and discussion program for both design professionals and the general public is described later. A series of concerts and a movie screening were also organized.
The themes of the project have been communicated to different audiences of citizens and experts through media appearances both nationally and internationally. The designers have visited e.g. the morning TV show of the Finnish national broadcasting company YLE with 250 000 daily viewers and the day radio program with 1 million daily listeners. Professional audiences have been reached through publications such as Archdaily, Dezeen, Dwell and The Finnish Architectural Review ARK. The academic community is engaged through Suomi’s doctoral research articles, Suomi and Koivisto’s teaching as well as various presentations and articles. Alusta was also part of the program of Helsinki Design Week and Aalto University's Designs for a Cooler Planet exhibition.
Spontaneous visits of citizens activate the pavilion to its potential of offering embodied experiences of entangled multi-species existence in an urban environments.
Alusta has been part of research and pedagogical activities at Aalto University, Raseko clay builder institute, Helsinki University, Biodiversity interventions for well-being (BIWE) research project as well as Museum of Finnish Architecture and Design Museum. Nearly a hundred architecture, design, and clay builder students from some 10 countries took part in the workshops. Taking information back to their home universities through Erasmus and other exchange programs, the message of Alusta is spread internationally. Several thesis projects on the themes of the pavilion have been initiated. Experts joining the discussion series also continue discussions at their home institutions including Aalto University, Helsinki University, University of Turku, Tampere University, Finnish Environment Institute and Ministry of the Environment.
Different stakeholders were invited to contribute to the programme at Alusta. Programme for various audiences was organized by both museums, Designmuseon ja Arkkitehtuurimuseon Ystävät DAMY ry, Aalto University departments of Architecture, Design and Art Education and You Tell Me-collective.
Finnish Association of Architects and Information Centre for Finnish Architecture took part in the discussions and offered venues to spread the experiences from the project to a wider professional audience.
The City of Helsinki was involved in the building permit process, schools and kindergartens were invited to visit and learn, and local politicians invited to join the discussion series.
The private sector was engaged as the project was supported by Finnish companies such as Abl-Laatat, Fiskars, Ilmarinen, Kekkilä Oy, Kääpä Biotech, Rudus Oy, Stark Suomi Oy and Wienerberger Oy. Sustainable material innovations were promoted and unsustainable modes of operation were challenged in the process by the designers.
The project was funded by Kordelin foundation, The Arts Promotion Centre of Finland and Greta and William Lehtinen foundation.
Alusta research pavilion developed through a multidisciplinary collaborative process co-ordinated by Suomi/Koivisto architects.
Group of ecology researchers from Helsinki University and Natural Resources Institute Finland acted as advisors on the needs of insects and the feasibility of the plan for inviting non-human guests to the pavilion. A scheme to offer nutrition and shelter for the insects was made based on discussions among the designers, ecologists and a gardener. The importance of soil microbes for mutual wellbeing was emphasized. Decaying wood inoculated with specific fungi to support living conditions of beetles was included in the plan. Alusta was added to the Biodiversity interventions for Well-being (BIWE) research project for increasing biodiversity and its health benefits in built areas.
Co-creation process took place with experts and students from different disciplines. Engineer Timo Kallio and his students at Raseko Clay Building Institute developed structural raw clay elements. Ceramic elements were developed together with professor Nathalie Lautenbacher and students from Aalto University. Collaboration with IKI Carbon led to making a lignin based biochar art piece.
The themes of the pavilion were explored in more depth through academic discussions open for all audiences. Aesthetics and sustainability was approached with environmental philosopher Sanna Lehtinen. Emotions evoked by environmental crises and art as a path to encountering them were discussed with ecotheologist Panu Pihkala and Patrik Söderlund (IC-98 artist-duo). Animal philosopher Elisa Aaltola explored the relationship between humans and non-human animals. Loss of biodiversity and urban design was approached with assistant professor in landscape planning and ecology Elisa Lähde and docent of urban ecology Kati Vierikko. Empathy as a pathway to sustainable architecture was opened with associate professor of sustainable architecture Sofie Pelsmakers. Full program in appendix.
Alusta was initiated by two Aalto University architects. The project is part of Maiju Suomi’s PhD research where she explores the aesthetics and political agency of environmental architecture. She develops methods for practice-led research in the field of architecture as a tool for critical thinking, and re-evaluating the values guiding design processes, thus advancing sustainability developments. Elina Koivisto is University Teacher in Building Technology and focused on studying and developing natural construction materials and circular economy principles through the project. Multidisciplinary educational goals guided the selection of methods and materials as the designers wanted to fill in gaps in the current curriculum and include students in the process of making the pavilion.
Current sustainability discourse on architecture was broadened on three levels: the material, the aesthetic and the social. Working in a research context, with funding from cultural foundations instead of a conventional client allowed experimentation with materials and methods, and opened philosophical questions on nature-culture relations. Working on a small scale non-permanent project made it possible to focus with care on material flows, aesthetic experiences and the events taking place in the pavilion. The participatory and educational qualities of the project, and the inclusion of natural processes in the aesthetic texture of the space required the designers to share their authority. Eco Centeredness also challenged ego centeredness.
Building regulations steer architectural projects by limiting their negative environmental impacts. Alusta turns this around and sees architecture as a tool for repairing living environments. It sets itself amidst the complex lifeworld existing on the site, enriching it. Careful multidisciplinary study can allow for an architectural intervention to become an act of care, sustaining and advancing diverse life in its particular location.
Methods and approach can be replicated, further developed and adapted to new contexts. Essential in planning this, is to carefully consider the context. Each location has unique environmental conditions and concerns. Different social contexts require adjusting the approach to participation and inclusion accordingly.
The pedagogic principles can be replicated in learning processes on different educational levels. This is supported through open access knowledge creation. Suomi shares documentation and reflection on the process through her practice-led PhD project. Learnings from the project are openly shared by the designers in academic and professional contexts. Broader audience is reached through the museums’ pedagogical staff, and media presence of the project.
Sustainable materials and techniques used and developed can be replicated elsewhere. Also participatory principles of the design and implementation process can be followed in similar or different architectural projects. The pavilion itself as a physical entity can be transferred elsewhere as it was designed to be easily disassembled due to its temporary nature. All materials can either be reused as such or returned to the environment without harmful effects. The plant community can be moved safely as they are planted in movable growbags.
Replicating the approach of the project in the context of e.g. schools, daycare centers, hospitals, elderly care facilities, research and cultural institutions, or refugee centers would provide interesting possibilities of simultaneously strengthening community, and tackling environmental questions.
The pavilion can be replicated as such if a context with similar climatic and social conditions is considered. But in order to create cultural and biological diversity, it would be more interesting to apply similar principles to a new place with a new community, with a creative attitude attuned to the local flora, fauna, materials, natural processes and human culture.
In a nutshell Alusta pavilion functions to create social change through first initiating a participatory and educational process. Through this a shared space to create well-being for all with lesser resources is conceived. The space is activated through various open programs to deepen the discourse. Through media presence the discourse is broadened to reach new audiences. Thus Alusta pavilion exemplifies the possibility of change in values and attitudes towards our place as part of nature, and the well-being effects found in creating a symbiotic relationship with our environment.
Cultivating an attitude of care shows in the overall aim to make space for more diverse life in both a biological and cultural sense, and in how the countless connections among the different human and nonhuman actors bind us into a life-sustaining web. The process began with critical attention towards the human-exceptionalism of the design world. The choice to work with pollinating insects was based on building a concrete example of the interconnectedness of human needs with the more than human world. Pollinating insects are vital to the human food chain and ecosystem sustainability globally. And now their populations are in steep decline. There is an immediate need to acknowledge their intrinsic and extrinsic value and to act to restore their living conditions globally. With Alusta, the needs of humans and pollinating insects were explored in a shared space through collaboration with natural scientists thus creating a future vision of mutual wellbeing.
Alusta pavilion simultaneously becomes a laboratory for research, a learning environment for students, and a tool for disseminating research findings to a larger public. With its calm and inviting atmosphere Alusta offers an inspiring example of the possibility for change for students, citizens, designers and decision makers to continue the work in new locations in their own creative ways.
Climate crises and mass extinction are global challenges which are experienced in specific localities, through the livability of those places. Alusta pavilion is a spatial inquiry into possible solutions to the loss of biodiversity in this particular setting. We are welcomed to tune ourselves to the needs of the non-human others, and to find ourselves entangled in this multi-species web of care. We then carry this attitude with us to other localities, with different challenges to be solved in their own contextual ways.
Alusta tackles loss of biodiversity, with a focus on pollinating insects by providing nutrition and shelter for them. It also lifts into focus loss of soil fertility by utilizing composting, fungi inoculation and lignin-based biochar. It offers an example of the interconnectedness of environmental issues as habitat for birds, whose populations are also on decline globally, is simultaneously created. Alusta increases well-being for both human and non-human animals. People are physically and mentally healthier when living with access to diverse natural environment.
Alusta combats climate change by utilizing low energy construction solutions and promoting material circulation. It mitigates the impact of climate change by increasing urban green infrastructure which balances temperatures and humidity, and takes part in stormwater management. It also provides a communal space for encountering emotions brought on by the environmental crises.
Alusta creates alternative joys to consumerist culture through its participatory and community building capacities. Caring for the space and its plantings brings different people together and also empowers them to make an impact elsewhere.
Alusta creates open space for learning and public discourse and thus supports democratic processes. It empowers people to take part in shaping their environment. The space itself is a beautiful example of how the initiative of individuals can grow with shared effort.
The design and construction phase of Alusta was completed in June 2022. Until late fall the plants grew and bloomed, providing multisensory spatial experiences for humans, and nutrition and shelter to pollinating insects until their hibernation. Along with the rain, wind and snow, the plants withered, some still offering nutrition for winter birds. Fungi, algae and lichen joined the community. Raw clay structures erode and change.
In spring, as the days grow longer, first flowers will appear to provide energy for the waking insects. Human participants will activate, inspect changes and mend possible structural damage, thus forming caring relations with the place. After another growing season of the perennials taking turns in blooming, and another series of events, the pavilion will be disassembled in October 2023. The plants will move in their grow bags to continue their life elsewhere, and raw clay will return to ground. The fired elements will be reused elsewhere.
Future locations for Alusta are studied. Adjusting the project to a medical rehabilitation context is discussed with neurologist and doctor of planetary health Hanna Haveri who studies the effects of connection to nature in the recovery of trauma patients. Rediscovering Alusta at Annantalo, a culture center providing free art education for children is a possibility. As well as reaching a building industry audience through an arts initiative adjacent to the official Finnish Housing Fair in 2023.
During its first year Alusta pavilion became a popular meeting place for different people as well as swarms of pollinators, birds and other animals. It reached a broad audience of museum goers, local dwellers, students, and professionals. It was academically pre-examined as part of Maiju Suomi’s PhD thus advancing practice-led research methodology in architecture. Its learnings were shared internationally to the broad public through media, and professionally through lectures and articles by the designers.
Alusta pavilion is a spatial tool embodying and representing sustainability values. Sustainability in architecture has leaned heavily on the measurable material and energy consumption. The designers of Alusta wanted to also communicate ideas and meaning through the embodied experience of inhabiting a space. By working together with natural processes and allowing change as part of the aesthetic texture of the place, they turned a parking lot into an open oasis for pollinators and humans alike.
The designers of Alusta embraced complexity in sustainability especially by using critical design thinking as their main approach for revealing different futures and underlying values. Alusta questions human exceptionalism as a basis for making architecture and sets humans as part of the intertwined, living system instead. An issue the designers wanted to frame to an understandable form by choosing polinating insects as a focus group and creating a concrete place for experiencing entangled existence.
Alusta as a project promotes action for sustainability. It is an example of an individual initiative of two women that expanded into a collective action of different institutions, stakeholders and individuals. Creating an example of a sustainable solution in a local context and sharing the values and methods through eg. hands-on workshops for university students, youth and children, open lectures for people and professionals, visits for schools and kindergartens and writing at diverse occasions spreads practical and political agency to all for taking similar action.
Often architecture is an answer to a predefined question. The aim of the designers in this case was to look past the current habits and restrictions and use architecture as a tool for envisioning sustainable futures. The designers were speculating and exploring rather than giving silver bullet-answers.
