E14 | The Forum | Special Mention
Europan 14 | Productive Cities
Productivity is not limited to financial-oriented outcomes. Productivity determines social and economic interactions through adaptative processes: it is an open system. An open system framework aims at guaranteeing a constant interaction between a diverse and uncommon mix of activities. Physical space is the catalyst for community revival in a productive and proactive sense. The open-ended processes originating from space are the means to activate social, cultural and economic production.
Pro(d)activity/Space
The development of an open system framework is activated by focusing on public space and social interaction: a bottom-up process. The in-between space and infrastructure of the Forum is the innovative solution that spatially and productively connects Linnanmaa and Kaijonharju: the proactive engine through which diverse relationships and a new urban structure are activated.
Every aspect of the urban is seen in a pro(d)active way: the renewed touristic infrastructures towards the surrounding nature and sport facilities; the mixed-use new urban blocks; social interaction; the discovery of a great public space, the forum, with flexible and heterogeneous possibilities of development.
Space is constantly negotiated, both in terms of activities (they can change and develop at all time) and city traffic, where cars have to negotiate their space in prevalently pedestrian and cycle-friendly streets.
The Forum
The forum is a space for encounter, between the university productivity and the city everyday activities, community and the surrounding nature, physical space and unforeseeable productive developments. The forum determines a clear and direct connection with the lakes of Pyykösjärvi and Kuivasjärvi that are linked to the whole network by new piers and sport ports.
Sheltered Path & Parterre
A strong connectivity between Linnanmaa and Kaijonharju is marked by a transversal sheltered space that joins university, forum, urban blocks and the new central market of the city. Parterre is treated as the unifying element of the new structure, which partakes in the construction of a proactive environment.
Urban Blocks
The city integrates part of the existing buildings into a diverse range of new urban blocks, intended not as residential areas only but as open opportunities for housing and local/urban activities to interact with each other. Social and economic incubators for activities and community encounters are located in each block.