A new meeting place as an international student project will be completed in Savilahti to celebrate the 250th anniversary of Kuopio

At the end of May, an international architecture student project will create a new and experiential meeting place in Savilahti, inviting people to spend time there. The starting point has been the idea of a common campfire to gather around. The meeting place will be built on the shores of Savilahti near the university’s Canthia building.

The students will be tasked with creating a community meeting place open to all and available all year round. The structure must be of high quality and suitable for the environment, and be built using wood as a construction material. The architecture should be experiential and innovative.

The project will take two weeks to complete. Students will arrive in Kuopio on Monday 19 May, when they will have the opportunity to visit the site and design three different options. Construction of the chosen design will start on Wednesday and is expected to be completed by Friday 30 May. The students will live in Kuopio for the duration of the project.

The students are from a special course for final year students at Trondheim University (Design in Context / Trondheim NTNU). The course consists of 15 architecture students, partly from Norway and partly from other parts of Europe, especially France and Germany. In addition to Sami Rintala, the course is led by architect and engineer Per Bertnsen.

Sami Rintala is a Finnish architect, professor and artist. City of Kuopio got to know Sami in its twin city Bodö in 2017, when the idea of a joint project was born as part of the city’s 250th anniversary year. The idea was to create a common campfire to gather around. Savilahti was chosen as the location, which has developed into a community of almost 20 000 students and numerous Finnish and international top performers.