Helsinki-based practice JKMM Architects has completed a new housing by using Makasiini-brick material mixed with colorful brick patterns on the facade in Jyväskylä neighborhood of Finland.

Named Albertinpiha Housing, the new apartment block is located in Jyväskylä, the largest city in central Finland known for its early and later period Alvar Aalto buildings. 

The building is situated in the Kangas quarter, a former paper mill area close to the city centre, and it was designed as part of a 120,000-square-metre development of the area planned to house approximately 5000 people.

Albertinpiha is located on a prominent site at Kangas next to the 70 metre tall paper mill chimney and across the Touru River. JKMM’s seven-storey brick tower block plays homage to the nineteenth century industrial buildings with its robust massing and forms. The Finnish aged Makasiini-brick is also in keeping with the crafted feeling and warmth of its historic context.

A distinctive feature in the elevations is the use of coloured bricks to highlight corners, the entrance and the roofline through informal patterns; akin to those achieved through a play of light on a surface. This artwork has been realised in collaboration with Finnish artist Mika Natri and is called "Abstraction". It sits within a wider Kangas public art framework. 

As a piece "Abstraction" animates the building and gives the brickwork a sense of depth not unlike that achieved through reliefs or recesses in masonry buildings. The apartment balconies too animate the building’s East elevation and bring to mind exposed industrial lift shafts further emphasising the warehouse vernacular JKMM has sought at Albertinpiha. 

In the interior, the 45 apartments have simple finishes with 2.6m ceiling heights accentuated through the design of high windows bringing in plentiful natural light. Communal areas include shared courtyards and a residents’ sauna with an adjoining terrace.  

"The objective has been to create a milieu for relaxed urban living walking distance from both Jyväskylä town centre and the nearby nature park," said JKMM Architects.

"As a place to live, Kangas is very much a setting that mediates between the two without feeling suburban. The City itself refers to Kangas a “hybrid area” and has highlighted the importance of reducing residents’ car dependence." 

"This is just one of the tenets of One Planet Living that inform the sustainability strategy for the development as a whole," the firm added.

Site plan

Floor plans - 2nd, 5th & 6th

Elevations

Project facts

Location: Jyväskylä, Finland

Area: 2500 kem

Building programme: Basement ja 7 apartment floors with 45 apartments 

Client: YIT 

Dates: Commissioned 2015 - Completed 2018

JKMM project team

Juha Mäki-Jyllilä leading architect, architect SAFA, partner

Samuli Miettinen architect SAFA, partner

Teemu Kurkela architect SAFA, partner

Asmo Jaaksi architect SAFA, partner

Tuomo Toivola project architect, student of architecture

Elina Törmänen Interior architect SIO

Project parties 

Property development consultant YIT Oy

Structural design Sweco rakennetekniikka Oy

HVAC engineering Sweco rakennetekniikka Oy 

Electrical engineering Protacon Oy

Geo engineering Rambol Finland Oy

Artist Mika Natri 

All images © Mika Huisman

> via JKMM Architects