FROM WOOD TO ARCHITECTURE |
Café Carbon
Helsinki, Finland, 2000.
Design: Niko Sirola
was built as a temporary summer cafe that operated in the years 2000-2002 in Helsinki's Töölönlahti area, at the boundary between a car park and the art garden project. The building has thence been moved to limajoki, in South Ostrobothnia, as a banquet and dance venue. The design is based on the winning entry of the Helsinki University of Technology's Wood Studio student competition in 1999.
The cafe is a flat-roofed, low building with a square floor plan, two parallel solid walls and two of glass. The glass walls are recessed. Between the walls is the public area, which is transparent in two directions and has a covered deck at either end. The service areas are organised as a row of enclosed spaces along one of the solid exterior walls. Outside the building frame, the terraces continue as open patios. The cafe includes a separate building containing toilet facilities.
The structure is a glulam frame, which was assembled on-site from prefabricated, dried components. The floor, walls, roof and timber blocks in the patio are made of 62,5 cm wide and 14 cm thick glulam units. The components have been connected with coach bolts and steel dowels.
The exterior surfaces have been charred and treated with pine tar for weather resistance. The natural color of wood has been retained in the interior. The stove and bar counter in the cafe space are of black steel. The building containing the toilet facilities is clad with plywood coated with black recycled rubber.
Photos: Marko Huttunen