Architect Takkunen: The Finnish architects fluent in timeless Nordic design

Made up of seven highly-qualified creative professionals, the small team behind Finnish architecture company Architect Takkunen is united by their passion for designing beautiful, sustainable homes with deep respect for both the environment and the clients’ particular needs.

Founded by Finnish architect Tapani Takkunen in 2013, Architect Takkunen has its base in Oulu, Finland. With Takkunen’s own roots in the region, and having studied architecture at the University of Oulu, basing the office in the northern city was a natural choice for him. The company, however, has projects all over the country; from the bustling capital region to the calm and serene Lapland area.

“Our goal is to always design houses that are in harmony with their surroundings – whether they are located close to nature or in an urban environment,” Takkunen explains. The beautiful, light-filled and functional homes designed by the firm speak for themselves, and indeed, the team prides itself on creating user-friendly architectural solutions that not only fit their environment, but also positively contribute to it.

Timeless living spaces with CLT-building

The entire team at Architect Takkunen has extensive knowledge and experience in designing versatile and flexible spaces tailored to all kinds of surroundings and terrains. They mainly work with private, individual clients on home and cabin designs, as well as building into pre-existing cityscapes.

The company achieves its characteristic flexibile architectural designs through an approach called CLT-building. Architect Takkunen is recognised as a specialist in the method, which uses cross-laminated timber – a highly resilient form of engineered wood – to build. The material’s incredible versatility enables architects to work with a plethora of design choices.

Utilising cross-laminated timber in architecture creates striking and innovative structures while simultaneously contributing to the reduction of carbon emissions and deforestation, as CLT is a renewable and sustainable building material. The result is not only a sustainable and functional building, but one that expresses a natural and warm aesthetic, with visible wood grain for a unique and modern look.

As the firm’s projects are often on sites with a high aesthetic or historical value, Takkunen believes the building materials they use should be valuable, too. “We really want these houses to last for many, many generations. Timeless design combined with the strength and durability of solid-wood materials, such as cross-laminated timber, allows for this,” he says.

The company’s ethos of timelessness refers to beautiful architectural design, made with care and attention to detail, that won’t go out of style, and that considers everyday human needs, so that the house can be lived in and loved.

Designing the atmosphere of the space to be just right is also something to which Takkunen and his team are extremely committed. The company’s extensive use of virtual interior design and detailed 3D visualisation in the design process helps with this, as it enables the client and the architect to experience the space from within before the actual building construction even starts.

Small firm, big impact

Made up of five architects and two interior architects, the team at Architect Takkunen is relatively small, but their collective knowledge is big. There is space for creativity and for the unique strengths of each designer to serve as part of the whole. The benefits of a smaller office are also visible in the way communication flows seamlessly within the firm.

When making not just houses but homes, an ongoing understanding and clear dialogue with the client is crucial. “Our team has the time and resources to genuinely listen to the client’s wishes and needs, as well as to visit the site in advance to really get a feel of the future house’s environment. This is quite rare in the industry these days, Takkunen says.

Looking to the future, Architect Takkunen has many different and exciting projects on the horizon, thanks to positive recognition inside the industry and word-of-mouth recommendations that are increasing the demand for the team’s unique expertise. The company is working on holiday houses in the increasingly popular Lapland area, detached houses and city homes all over the country, as well as redesigning entire small city-blocks and neighbourhoods. No matter the project size, the dedication to timeless Nordic design and user-friendly and environmentally-conscious architectural solutions is consistent throughout.

Web: www.arkkitehtitakkunen.com
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