The architects Saija Hollmén (b. 1970), Jenni Reuter (b. 1972) and Helena Sandman (b. 1972) started their collaboration in 1995 with the Women’s Centre project in Senegal. Today, their activities range from interiors to urban planning. They work with projects in Finland as well as in several African countries.
The group works with innovations by investigation, where the landscape, sensitivity towards materials and site-specific interventions are the means for a new architecture. Their work has been honoured with both national and international awards and has been extensively published and exhibited.
Apart from working as visiting critics and lecturers all over the world, the architects also teach at the Helsinki University of Technology.
Women’s Centre, Rufisque, Senegal; 1995–2001
The women’s centre, built in a suburb of Rufisque, offers facilities for the activities of the various organisations formed by the women. The idea and the spatial programme of the centre were born in co-operation with local women’s groups. The building was carried out as an NGO project.
According to the west African custom, the building is grouped around an internal courtyard; the line between private and public is clear but flexible. The simplicity of the street façades adapts the building to its surroundings; the corner facing a road crossing forms a small public square where the facilities reserved for trading are located. The building’s red colour gives the house its own identity amidst the general grey tone of the city blocks.
The building frame is a cast-in-place column and beam structure, with the walls made of concrete blocks cast in a mould and dried on site. The roof is corrugated metal sheeting supported by a system of steel beams, with thick woven straw matting forming an insulating ceiling structure; the space between is ventilated, which guarantees that the air indoors is kept pleasantly cool. The choice of materials emphasises localness and recycling; for instance, wood is used only in places where no other material could be used. In detailing, old car wheel rims are used as ventilation holes and the bottoms of old glass bottles for windows. The reinforcement irons in the concrete are made of recycled iron.
TunaHAKI – “We Have Rights” Orphanage and theatre, Moshi, Tanzania, 2007 –
TunaHAKI Centre is a shelter for AIDS orphans and street children in Moshi, Tanzania. The Centre provides children with shelter, food, clothing, medical care. It also encourages training in the arts as life-saving tools.
TunaHAKI Foundation has purchased a piece of land to build a new and permanent home for the children, as well as a theatre. Hollmén Reuter Sandman Architects have been chosen to design the new orphanage; The American Armstrong + Cohen Architecture office will design the theater part of the project.
The orphanage will include dormitories for boys and girls, classroom, library and spaces for other familiar activities. The hierarchy of the architecture follows the local Tanzanian building tradition. The architectural challenge is to create an environment that is local and familiar to the children, emphasizing their insight of their own cultural characteristics, and at the same time modern, timeless and sustainable.
Environmental aspects are taken into consideration in every step of the design, including local building materials, waste management, rainwater collection, wind and solar energy, ecological sanitation with biogas production from human waste, gray water treatment, natural ventilation through underground air ducts, etc. The buildings and technologies are designed to be low maintenance. Local manpower is used to promote the empowerment of the whole community.
Construction will begin in June 2009, with estimated completion in 2010.
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