Kokoon nominated as Wood Award candidate
The Kokoon house of Aalto University students is among the 15 Wood Award 2017 nominees. The house provides a compact solution for the challenges of temporary accommodation.
Kokoon is a design and construction project by the Wood Program 2015-16 students at Aalto University School of Arts, Design and Architecture. The house is easy to erect, dismantle and move. Its aim is to provide a temporary residence for e.g. asylum seekers, students or families whose homes are undergoing necessary renovation.
The Kokoon project is a system of pre-fabricated and transportable housing modules, for stacking into a larger configuration of living units. The transfer can be done in less than five hours. According to the site and needs, the flexibility of the project can produce a large rank of configurations, where only stacking and furnishing happen on site. Construction has been pursuing healthy and durable materials choices. The prototype consists of three floors and two flats. The two lower modules form a two-room apartment and the top one a studio. Design started in January 2016 and construction in April 2016. The project was completed in early July 2016 and was exhibited in the yard of the Architecture and Design museums in Helsinki city center. In the summer of 2017 Kokoon was featured at the Flow Festival, where it served as the Aalto University landmark. The house is now located in Otaniemi at Miestentie 3.
Wood Program is a one year intensive master level architectural program focusing on wood and wooden architecture at the Aalto University of Arts Design and Architecture. The program explores the ecological, technical and architectural properties of wood, providing a thorough and all-round view on the whole chain of wood construction.
The Wood Award is given annually to a building, interior design or structure that represents high quality Finnish wood architecture or where wood is used in an innovative way. The winner will be announced on November 30, 2017 at Puupäivät in Wanha Satama, Helsinki. Candidates can be voted for until November 26. The prize is awarded by Puuinfo. It is a configuration of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation, the Sawmill Industries, the Finnish Forest Products and Builders' Supplies Association SPY, and The Central Union of Agricultural Producers and Forest Owners MTK. The prize has been awarded since 1994.
More information:
Kokoon: http://kokoon.squarespace.com/projectinformation
The Wood Award: www.woodarchitecture.fi/puupalkinto