Kuopionlahti Architecture Competition and Town Plan

Year

2017

Client

City of Kuopio

SCALE

WHAT wE DID

Urban planning, Architectural design

The City of Kuopio arranged an architectural competition on the design of the Kuopionlahti area with the aim of defining the urban and functional character of the shoreside. The design brief was inextricably linked to the new buildings emerging in the area: “Lumit” the Kuopio Senior High School of Arts and a new hotel and conference centre.

The winning proposal called for the series of cultural buildings in the area to be supplemented to form a clear axis of public buildings and for a bold approach to be taken to harmonise the southern boundary of the grid plan. The architecture of the buildings consists of masses distributed in two parts according to the line of eaves of the existing cultural buildings. The parts below this horizontal line, defined by their beautiful canopy themes, are the most public parts of the buildings: cafés, commercial units, galleries and multifunctional spaces. The parts above the line are larger-scale sections that will be developed to suit each individual building project.