Jaakko Torvinens's work1 demonstrates a harmonious blend of academic research and practical application, driven by a passion for wood as a material and a commitment to sustainability and aesthetic innovation. He focuses on the utilization of irregular wood, which is often excluded from common industrial processing. He explores this via a design-built approach, through prototypes and demonstrators of single building elements and larger assemblies. He has designed Pikku-Finlandia, the temporary replacement for Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall, and is currently working on a private free-standing sauna, with the working title Puu-Sauna, while he is engaged as a PhD fellow a Aalto University, School of Art, Design and Architecture.
In his work, he emphasises the interplay between spaces of academia and practice, concept and application. While he enjoys the experimental free academia offers, which allows him to push boundaries and expand the scope of what can be achieved in real-world architectural projects, Jaakko sees his academic work as a vital playground to innovate and test ideas that might later be implemented in practical applications, albeit resulting in a more constrained manner. On built prototypes, he notes that:
"I feel that [the built demonstrators] are more of a shade of what we are able to do in academia. And then these somehow reflect into real projects in the real world."
Jaakko‘s approach to design is heavily influenced by his fascination with wood, particularly irregular and round wood. He describes how wood patterns and natural forms guide his design process, citing projects like Pikku-Finlandia, where the use of entire trees became central to the concept.
"The project was about Finland, which for me means: forest. So I wanted columns to be real trees.”
While he acknowledges the practical challenges and constraints of implementing such experimental ideas in the real world, often requiring collaboration with sawmills and forest owners, he is optimistic about the nature of his work to push the discipline further, referencing the importance of building prototypes2,3 within the Pikku-Finlandia design process.
„That's why we did the initial pavilion as a smaller test project. So we could say that we did this already. So, let's do it again. So then it's not anymore that's new and the risk is smaller.“
This has been proven, as he is now utilizing round irregular wood again for new projects. This is opening up the potential for architecture, utilizing disregarded material that further allows us to engage with the material found on site. For instance, the ongoing Puu-Sauna project involved material found on site that was not only implemented in the project but also the trees found there that had an influence on the design of the project. His early fascination with wood has evolved, now trusting the inherent beauty of trees without needing to select each one meticulously.
“In the beginning, I felt, that I wanted to know exactly what trees and I was really picky. [...] Now I think that all the trees are beautiful. I trust that the tree will be beautiful anyway. I don't need to be sure that I picked the right one, so now, for the Puu-Sauna when I've been in the forest choosing the trees, I was more relaxed.“
Overall Jaakko is optimistic about the future of architecture, believing that innovative approaches like using irregular wood can lead to more sustainable and aesthetically pleasing constructions. He argues for the importance of making architectural components from low-value materials, thereby enhancing resource efficiency.
„I think it benefits everybody because now [irregular wood] is just low-value material. But if it can become a highly valuable architectural component, who wouldn't win?“
His vision includes making the world more livable by integrating natural elements into built environments and promoting sustainability within planetary boundaries.
“Just by taking the logs away from other processing and that would be already be big step towards resource efficiency. I think it benefits everybody because now [irregularly shaped logs are] low value material. But if it can become a high valuable architectural component like. Who wouldn't win?”
Jaakko demonstrates in his projects the effective utilization of a wasted resource, irregular wood logs. Within his projects, technology helps him to make use of and gain architectural value from the material. This creates a parallel to a common cycle of material production. While this is still of a prototypical nature, he has shown the materials and workflow feasibility and promise for sustainable building.
"I try making the world better by shaping the world more livable... by being closer to nature. But then I also want to make things a little more sustainable allowing us to live within our planetary boundaries."
1 Find more of his projects here.
2 Beyond many tests and experiments, the design-built group of the project built a full scale demonstrator, exploring a. o. processing, construction and joints for Pikku-Finlandia.
Find images here.
3 To learn about the structural concept, processign workflow in detail within the prototyping of Pikku-Finlandia, see this paper.