2_1_ScanMag_69_Oct_2014_Text:Scan Magazine 1

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Scan Magazine | Special Theme | Nordic Architecture Finland

LEFT: Wood is a traditional building material that connects us to our past. Hannarktuuri creates warm but modern furniture designs together with their users. Photo: Iida Liimatainen. TOP MIDDLE: Spending time in her family-owned Ostrobothnian house made Hanna Ranto fall in love with architecture and design as a child. Photo: Maru Lemmetty. BOTTOM: An old assisted living house in Jyväskylä will be replaced with a modern building incorporating wood. Photo: Hannarktuuri. TOP RIGHT: Hannarktuuri owner Hanna Ranto is an architect and building designer. Photo: Iida Liimatainen.

The endless wooden era Wood prevails where modern building materials fail: it's still one of the most recyclable, customisable and movable building materials in use. Architecture and decoration agency Hannarktuuri designs houses as well as beautiful, user-oriented and modern wooden artefacts cherishing the great Finnish Ostrobothnian timbering tradition that has thrived for over three centuries.

Finnish Hannarktuuri creates building renovation plans, designs houses and furniture, from chairs to virtually anything imaginable in the field of decoration. For owner, architect and designer Hanna Ranto, wood is the binding element that connects the old rustic days and contemporary times.

Hannarktuuri and its owner are faithful advocates of Finnish rustic building traditions, and wish that more of new buildings were built from wood. “I would like to remind you that nowadays fire instructions allow us to build public buildings as well as domestic multi-floored houses in wood,” Ranto says.

Rustic building traditions

When restoring houses, Hannarktuuri makes graceful solutions in terms of present-day living needs without causing any damage to structures.

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Keeping the tradition alive in everyday work Ranto wants to keep the rustic traditions in mind when designing or decorating, and emphasises the meaning of collaboration.

By Tuomo Paananen | Photos: Hannarktuuri

“Wooden pieces of furniture create warm and cosy feeling in the room, but wood is also one of the most ecological and movable construction materials. With so-called modern elements like concrete, brick and metal, there are only pilot projects testing whether these could be recycled, re-used or easily moved, whereas for example, Ostrobothnians knew how to do this with wooden structures already in the 18th century,” Ranto states.

policymakers are becoming more and more aware of this, ” Ranto says.

“The most important thing is to not take away something that you can't put back. This is a challenge when one has to renovate or restore under a construction permit; fixing old log houses with new specifications and techniques can be harmful to them, but I believe that the

“It's very important for me to have the users of the designs in the process from early on. I want to make quality artefacts that can be used by the ones who order them. On a more practical level I enjoy working with a carpenter who understands the traditions. I believe in timeless, longlasting and handmade items that can remain intact for centuries,” Ranto says. “When you think about the Ostrobothnians, they built things to last, also making them breathtakingly beautiful. There is no reason why we couldn't do the same.” Visit Hannarktuuri's Facebook page or hannarktuuri.fi for restoration, design or decoration plans.