אדריכלות ישראלית

Architecture of Israel #

112

February

2018

Avanto Architects

page

english readers

The word Avanto – hole in the ice – symbolizes

the office’s design philosophy, which is striving

to evoke emotions in users’ of space with

minimal intervention in nature.

The office’s largest project so far is the chapel

at the Saint Lawrence Cemetery in Vantaa,

which immediately won several prizes upon

its completion in 2010. A result of an open

competition, the building expresses an elegant

empathy for grieving families inside, while

preserving the medieval stone church and the

historical street-bell in an array of contemporary

components.

Specializing in timber structures, the office did

not flinch from dealing with small jobs, such as

an observation tower at the Helsinki zoo (built

while the partners were still studying), modular

greenhouses for vegetable-growing on urban

verandahs; a pop-up sauna (Hong Kong) and

the recently completed Löyly Sauna in the

Hernesaari industrial zone. Situated near the

water, the impressive timber structure includes

a restaurant as well as three saunas and a spa

area. The project announces the establishment

of a new residential neighborhood in the historic

industrial zone.

Both partners teach at the Department of

Architecture at the Aalto University, Helsinki.

guests of the season

avanto architects

hole in the ice

Bonnie Evans

Avanto Architects was established in 2004 by Ville Hara and Anu Puustinen, two

graduates from the Helsinki University of Technology (HUT, now Aalto University),

after winning a competition for the design of a chapel at the Saint Lawrence

cemetery. Two years later the office won second place in an international

competition for the Tsunami Memorial, in Khao Lak, Thailand.

The competitions served as a jumping-off point for further successes, the most

significant of which is the Bryggman Prize for young architects, three nominations

for the Mies van der Rohe Prize and, lately, the 2016 Suomi Prize for Architecture.

The office aroused international interest, evident in the publicity and exhibitions,

among them four entries in the Venice Bienale.

Ville Hara and Anu Puustinen

Photo:

Mikko Ryhanen