Young Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture award to Tiina Antinoja

The 2012 recipient of the Young Spirit of Nature Wood Architecture Award is architect Tiina Antinoja from Oulu, Finland. She completed her diploma thesis “Papinpelto housing area in Rauma” at the Department of Architecture at the University of Oulu in autumn 2011.

The award is given for a student work in which wood as a building material has a central role. The award includes a monetary sum of 5000 euros, is awarded by the Wood in Culture Association. The prize ceremony will take place at a gala evening at the Sibelius Hall in Lahti, Finland, on September 7, 2012.

Tiina Antinoja was born in Simo in 1986 and graduated from the Simo high school in 2005. She completed her diploma thesis at the Department of Architecture at the University of Oulu in autumn 2011, and has worked in an architects’ office in Oulu since 2009.

In giving their reasons for selecting the award recipient, the jury stated that Antinoja had approached the subject of her diploma thesis, the new housing area of Papinpelto in Rauma, by means of both regional planning and building design. The work is realised in a balanced and logical way. It takes on the challenges of creating new housing areas in Finland through the skilful use of wood as the main building material.

The jury hopes that the work will inspire an open discussion about the central importance of architecture in wood construction. +

Rural hospitals present unique opportunities and challenges for healthcare facility operators. Oftentimes, the infrastructure and building systems have not been updated for years and require significant improvements in order to meet today’s modern medical demands. Additionally, as these smaller, more remote hospitals are acquired by larger regional and national healthcare systems, the first step by new ownership is often to update and rehabilitate the building. But how can this be done thoughtfully, economically, and efficiently in ways that allow the engineering and facility staff to adapt to the changes? And how can the updates accurately reflect the specific needs of rural communities and the afflictions with which these areas most commonly face?