See our video and listen to Pekka Heikkinen’s thoughts about wood
Influencer
Wood cannot be forced
HEIDI HAMMARSTEN, JOHANNA FLINKKILÄ, Photos: Vesa Tyni
Wood is a material you must learn to understand, says Pekka Heikkinen, an architect who is Professor of Practice at Aalto University. Säie Pavilion, designed and constructed by students at Aalto Uni- versity, received the 2016 Wood in Architecture Award awarded by World Architecture News. “Even though architecture is not a race, I dare say we did some- thing right to finish ahead of so many extremely skilled partici pants. One rival was Sir Norman Foster’s studio, which has a thousand employees,” says Pekka Heikkinen, Professor of Practice in Wood Architecture at Aalto University, who led the winning team of students. The World Architecture News award is far from the only one that Heikkinen and his students have received over the years. Their achievements include the Schweighofer Innovation Prize awarded in Austria, the Construction Rose awarded by the City of Helsinki, and the House of the Year award by Architectural Review. Heikkinen oversees Aalto University’s Wood Program, where students learn about wood use and annually design and im- plement an experimental wooden structure. The Program was launched in 2000 as an umbrella for previously unconnected courses in wood products technology, construction technology and the history of architecture. “Aalto University has always been strong in wood construction technology. The Wood Program has gradually expanded and has begun to attract foreign students. Many of them stay on to work in Finland after their studies,” says Heikkinen.
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