Aalto University Properties Ltd’s general meeting has made an investment decision on the New Building in Otaniemi, comprising ca. 34 000 m2 of university and business premises. The building will follow the plan “Väre” by Verstas Architects, the winner of the Campus 2015 open international architectural competition.

The total value of the investment is about 110 million euros, and the objective is for the building to be completed by the beginning of year 2017.

Verstas Architects is among the seven practices selected to the architecture exhibition at this year’s Frankfurt Book Fair. The two projects by Verstas featured in the exhibition are Saunalahti School and the Aalto Universtity Campus.

Finland is the guest of honour at the 2014 fair. The Deutsches Architekturmuseum (DAM) with the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Architecture Information Centre Finland have produced an architecture exhibition presenting the current developments in Finnish architecture.

The exhibition opens to the public on September 6, 2014 at Deutsches Architekturmuseum in Frankfurt am Main.

Photograph by Mikko Laak / Architecture Information Centre Finland

Saunalahti school is one of the 10 main projects of the 6th review of contemporary Finnish architecture organized by the Museum of Finnish Architecture, the Alvar Aalto Foundation / Academy and the Finnish Association of Architects in collaboration with the Architecture Information Centre Finland.

Finnish Architecture Biennial Review 2014 exhibition opens on June 11th at the Museum of Finnish Architecture.

Photograph by Tuomas Uusheimo

The construction work on Verstas’ Alvar Aallon katu buildings on Töölönlahti is completed today. The furnishing of the EY office building and work on the outdoor areas is still ongoing.

Photograph by Marc Goodwin

Today’s Helsingin Sanomat features a 3-page profile on Verstas with a very nice headline.

Saunalahti school yard designed by LOCI Maisema-arkkitehdit together with Verstas was awarded the Environmental Project of the Year 2013 prize. The jury acknowledged the project for the coherent, inspiring entity created by the building and the yards through their organic forms and unified colours and materials.

links: LOCI, SAFA

Photograph by Andreas Meichsner

The new Verstas office is located at Itämerentalo, on 4th floor of the former Alko office and warehouse building in Ruoholahti, Helsinki.

Starting Monday February 17th our address is Tammasaarenlaituri 3, 00180 Helsinki. Emails and phone numbers will remain unchanged.

Photograph by Ville Rinne

Saunalahti school won the shared first prize in the 4th biennial Väri13-competition, the award for best use of colour in architecture in Finland.

Photograph by Andreas Meichsner

Verstas Architects has won the Campus 2015 open international architectural competition arranged by Aalto University. The Campus 2015 competition was to design a new core campus for Aalto University in Otaniemi in close proximity to the former Main Building and Library of the School of Technology designed by Alvar Aalto. The winning entry ‘Väre’ was selected among 189 submitted entries, six of which were chosen for the second stage of the competition.

The jury acknowledges the winning entry for reflecting well the shared values of the three schools of Aalto University and respecting the existing environment, while also presenting a clear vision of what the future university will look like.

links: Competition website at Aalto University

Aalto Campus 2015 winning entry Väre. View from main foyer.