Wild Vähäheikkilä
E18 TURKU RUNNER-UP
Marc Rieser (DE), urban planner
Evaluation
Wild Vähäheikkilä focuses on nature as a part of the design process, giving nature itself an agency in the process. The project presents an interesting in-depth reflection of natural processes as a choice towards uncertainty: where nature is the leading character of design, edges are soft and space remains in flux – incomplete, open, alive. The core concept references Japanese kintsugi, proposing nature as the connecting golden seam in the fractured urban fabric. This approach claims to work out of the existing conditions instead of imposing a new grid on the site, which results in a flowy and somewhat restless urban layout.
The overall scale of the proposal is balanced in relation to the surrounding small-scale context and generally fits the area well, even though it is among the densest entries. This density inevitably reduces the amount of space available for nature compared with what is described in the written materials, creating a gap between the stated aims and the design outcome. Nevertheless, the proposal demonstrates a high level of sustainability in both its architectural and landscape solutions. It reads as deliberate, cohesive and realistic.
The small scale approach allows for pleasant urban spaces to emerge between buildings. An extension to the Figura building works well and improves the cohesion along the street. Some re-purposed buildings are kept and new blocks are added on the old industrial area, and the public programs create a central and active area here. The second larger built structure is located along Vähäheikkilänkatu. The area around Porkanpuisto is left free of buildings, although water would not realistically rise to the level presented in the proposal.
Landscape architecture is interesting and inviting especially in the western part of the site. Ecological and sustainable themes are communicated well, as well as the project as a whole. The new pedestrian and bike route through the area is clear and flows easily. The wooden boardwalk structure along the open stream is out of proportion and would be difficult to manage and maintain, but could work in smaller sections. The proposal strengthens green networks quite well, although it loses touch with an important north-south green corridor in the middle of the site by the placement of the mobility hub.
Concentrating parking into parking buildings is foreign to Vähäheikkilä. The eastern mobility hub stands out as too massive for the scale of the rest of the area, and even in a future where parking would become obsolete, the buildings’ scale is problematic for future use. Also some of the solutions to the Vähäheikkiläntie seem out of scale; the green noise barrier doesn’t fit in the urban streetscape and the new pedestrian bridge is unnecessary.
Stormwater solutions are mostly proposed in realistic places with a few exceptions where space allocated for the stream seems too tight and the area’s elevations haven’t been taken into consideration well enough. However, the proposal presents many diverse and successful ways to utilize the water element throughout the site. Wild Vähäheikkilä recognises that to achieve long term resilience, plans need to be adjustable and be grown ‘naturally’.
Description
What is wild Vähäheikkilä? In the context of current ecological challenges, a new understanding of urbanity is taking center stage: the recognition of the city as a habitat for more than just people. Wild urban nature does not stand for anarchy, but for natural self-organization, co-evolution and resilience.
Urban space is shaped in coexistence with all forms of life. Wild urban nature does not mean a return to “pure” nature, but the integration of natural processes into the urban fabric – as a co-creator, as part of a shared future. The transformation of the canalized stream, not as a pure infrastructure project, but as a living dynamic organism gives rise to new urban qualities. Water is not controlled here, but accompanied. It becomes the engine of ecological, spatial and social renewal.