Café Birgitta
Project description:
The building is at cross-roads in an open landscape, where it needs to assert its role and be active in every direction: it has no front or back. It is transparent and accessible to a point of a comfortable thoroughfare.The building shelters from wind and rain and, no less importantly, provides a magnificent frame for the memorable view from this particular site.
The building complex is made up of three log-framed structures of various heights, layed out in almost a propeller-shape. Between the blocks is a covered space with glass partitions to two sides. One of the blocks houses the kitchen and sales counter, the second the facilities for the toilets and maintenance, and the third is a “lounge” with a fireplace – the heated area.
Building material is wood from Honkarakenne, which is not susceptible to changes in size due to its curing- and building technique. Wood-framed cantilevers cover the central space, hung together with steel wires and propped on one steel column. Laminated timber beams support glass plates in the wood-framed cantilevers. Sliding glass elements, suspended from the ceilings, make it possible to close the central space and provide shelter from the wind. The fireplace stands in the middle.
The outside of the building is made of 50×50 mm laminated wood elements with a scorched surface.The insides are of untreated wood. The terrace is of larch.
Project info:
| Year: | 2014 |
| Building permit granted: | 5/2013 |
| Client: | Pia and Tommi Leppälä |
| Location: | Hernesaari, Helsinki |
| Size: | 158 m2 |
| Principal designer: | Minna Lukander |
| Project architect: | Jari Heikkinen |
| Other team members: | Karoliina Hoppu, Martti Lukander, Lassi Heikkinen |
| Photos: | Tuomas Uusheimo |
More information:
Puuinfo. 16.7.2020. Kahvilapaviljonki Birgitta.
ArchDaily. 19.2.2015. Cafe Birgitta / Talli Architecture and Design.
Svenskt Trä. 2/2015. Skulptural form.
Awards:
A candidate for the Mies van der Rohe -award in 2015
The Log House of the Year 2014
