Finnish Architecture

Kellokas co-housing
Experimental housing
Helsinki 2009-2010
Arkkitehtitoimisto Karin Krokfors
Introduction:
Four flexible and ecological homes were carried out as a joint building venture. Two residents, one of whom is the designer, explain why they took up the challenge and what the project means to them.
- Project idea
Kellokas is an example: low energy house, which is flexible fordifferent life situations. Kellokas is a sustainable building designed on a demanding property. Building methods and technologies support the principle of flexibility.
Living in Kellokas does not cause CO2 emissions. Sun collectors warm the household water and rock heat pump is used for warming.
The construction is breathable, healthy 60 cm thick brick wall. In the entry floor of the three storybuilding there are living premises (which can also be used for working), sauna and bathroom. The first and second floors are the actual living premises.
The results of the Kellokas project are open and concepts are free to be copied when designing ecological private houses of the future. It forms basis for the development of sustainable communities.

* Architectural drawing
These pictures aremade for presentation purposes. The drawings are of the nothern C-D house, but both of the houses are basically identical.
The load bearing structure of Kellokas is a 60 cm thick massive brick wall. The facades towards Vanhankaupungilahti bay are clad with hand-slawn Ruukintiili bricks, which fits well in the old power plant milieu.
The facade towards the evening sun and Kellomäki, the birthplace of Helsinki, is almost entirely made of glass to collect the warmth.
* Project goals
In Finland the development and adaptation of ecological private houses lag behind the rest of Europe. We need examples of houses whose designers have taken into account the Nordic circumstances and the aim at sufficient urban density and at the same time optimise the energy consumption by holistic designapproach.
Lots of reports have been written and vision papers drafted, but real-life cases are rarities. Support and funding mechanisms are developed to support energy efficiency, but there are no support or instructions to support the realisation of ecological private houses – even though there are lots of private houses built in the land of vast spaces and just a few people.
We need examples,which help to guarantee a wide-spread adaptation of sustainable, ecological and energy efficient solutions. These are needed for us to be able to meet our goals in fighting the climate change

Source
http://kellokas.net/
Ark 4/2011
http://www.karinkrokfors.fi/people.html
KELLOKAS HOUSINGKellokas is an example of sustainable building approached from a holistic viewpoint. It is an experimentthat tries to affect every aspect of the generally acknowledged spectrum of sustainability – the ecological, the sociocultural and the economical.The project is a co-housing development which aims to challenge homogenous housing production. Specifically, the main objectives of the project have been ecology, housing solutions and the possibility to affect the quality of building and the choice ofmaterials. The buildings are also an example of dense townhouse infill building within a preexisting historical context, imposing boundaries and challenges on the ecological approach. For example, the openings are designed according to the demands of the urban context, rather than from a unilaterally ecological starting point. This guided the decision to utilize a system based on renewable energyrather than, for example, adopting the tenets of passive housing. ECOLOGICAL SUSTAINABILITYENERGY – reduction of carbon monoxidesHeating and warm water is produced with renewable energy, almost free of charge. The buildings also form a laboratory for testing a hybrid power solution of solar collectors and geothermal heating. Any excess heat produced by of the solar collectors is transferred into...