Huttunen-Lipasti-Pakkanen Architects, another of last year’s Living Steel Third Competition short-listed finalists, have a long history of designing single-family housing, always seeking a “new architecture that is in harmony with nature and touches the human soul.” Pekka Pakkanen, one of the firm’s principals, answers a few questions.

Living Steel: How do you apply “sustainability” to residential housing?

Pekka Pakkanen: We see sustainability as one of the basic starting points for any design process. The points to consider have to do with placing the buildings and openings, shapes of the buildings, building materials, insulations, air-tightness and technical solutions.

LS: Discuss your use of steel in residential housing new-builds or renovations

Santeri Lipasti, Pekka Pakkanen & Risto Huttunen

PP: The benefits of using steel can be found in places where light, strong and accurate structures are needed. Steel has good load bearing capabilities. The loads of a single-family house can be dealt with using small-sized structures using steel. In renovations, the use of steel can be a strong statement creating new and exciting layers. These layers have to be especially well thought out so as not to destroy the original values of the house.

LS: Provide example of instances where you used steel to solve a difficult problem

PP: We were commissioned to design a cafeteria for the City of Helsinki. The cafeteria serves an ice skating area in the city center in winter and a beach in summer. It moves between the two locations twice each year. This project could not have been built using any other material than steel.

LS: In the Living Steel Third Competition, you employed a most unusual combination of steel and straw in your “No Corners/Tablet Home”

PP: The curtain wall is built of perforated steel panels that can be opened. The idea is to control the flow of air according to the present season and weather. In the wintertime snow fills the holes from the side of the constant winds. The inner wall is built of natural straw attached to steel panels. The walls are one meter thick, meeting the standards of a passive energy house.

LS: What was your favorite aspect of the Third Competition?

PP: The Design Charrette was the best part of the Living Steel event. Having a short, but intensive, competition pushed all the participants to find new points of sustainability and other cultures.