A sense of community, abundant greenery and lake views on the roof terrace for all residents

The housing fair is held annually in Finland. In 2021, it will be held in a scenic location in Lohja, Southern Finland. An interesting partnership quarter will also be put up in the fair area, where a sense of community has especially been taken into account in the planning. A block of 34 modern and energy-efficient apartments. The principal designer of the site is the architect Sasu Alasentie from UKI Arkkitehdit.

”The idea behind the whole quarter is a sense of community. The flats in the building do not have their own saunas, but instead a communal use sauna will be constructed on the roof terrace. You can see the wonderful lake scenery from the roof and by utilising the roof terrace we wanted to ensure views of the lake to all residents. The yard areas of the quarter are fairly compact, but the roof terrace creates more greenery and communal outside areas for all the residents to use. We also hope that this will increase the residents’ team spirit and sense of community,” says Sasu Alasentie about the basis of the planning. 

”On the roof terrace, we will also build an individual planting box for each resident, where they can cultivate herbs, flowers or whatever plants they want. A small summer kitchen corner and dining area will also be built there, as well as hanging chairs for lounging around. All in all, the area will hopefully become a communal, green oasis to spend time in, for all the residents,” says Sasu Alasentie. 

”When we were choosing materials for the terrace, it was important to us that they would be in keeping with the building’s ecological nature and energy efficiency. Together with the contractor, we decided on the UPM ProFi Piazza composite for the terrace material. What appealed to us about it was particularly its durability and that it was easy to look after. Naturally also the fact that it’s made of recycled material, which fits well with the environmentally-friendly ideology of the whole building. I believe that in future projects, environmental friendliness and materials made from recycled materials will become even more popular,” says Sasu Alasentie.