Section includes questions and answers posted in the blog and discussed via email on the second Q&A round.
Q: Regarding the rules of the competition, section 5.2 - Document Format. Should page no.2 of the submitted PDF file be "Cardboard Pitch back sides: Public, Private, People"? There are duplicated words "front sides" in both page no.1 & page no.2. Please clarify.
A: There was a misprint in the rules. Noe the rules are corrected.
Q: We have recently graduated with MSc and MArch diplomas in sustainable design and we are very interested if we can participate in Suvela Surge design competition.
A: SuvelaSURGE is a Student Competition, therefore participants must be enrolled in some university programme for the 2010-2011 academic year. So, unless you are enrolled in further studies, you wouldn't be eligible
Q: What will be the role of the Coordinating teachers?
A:The Coordinating Teacher is expected to foster the debate on sustainability issues among the students at universities, which is something not so common, and also to provide guidance. This could work in favour of better and more sound proposals for Suvela. However, the exact extent of this role played by the Coordinating Teacher in relation to the team(s) he/she coordinates, is for you all to decide internally
Q: In Australia the academic year follows the calendar year, and I have just completed my bachelor in November 2010, so i was wondering whether this counts as being a student for the 2010-2011 academic year or not?
A: Thanks for informing on how the academic year works in Australia! Taking that into account, and also the fact that SuvelaSURGE competition was launched on December 2010, it's been decided that those students who finished their studies during autumn-winter (September-December) 2010 are eligible to participate. However, those who graduated during spring-summer 2010 are unfortunately no more eligible.
Q: Please we need you to provide us with the legend for the auto-cad file and the PDF files in the site plan zip file because we were unable to decode them fully.
A: This is roughly what the drawings contain (this refers to e.g. SURGE_suvela_siteplan_1000.pdf, as the colours in AutoCAD and such may vary according to system configuration):
- buildings are shaded with grey, with secondary parts such as balconies etc. unshaded
- red lines (in the PDF) are property boundaries
- red numbers along the lines are the lengths of boundary parts
- other red numbers are property numbers and such
- the red information can largely be ignored, as the proposal does NOT have to limit itself to the property boundaries -- it’s always possible to adjust them if the proposal has enough merit
- blue lines are water features
- the .dwg and .dgn files contain both cadastral (properties etc.) and topographic (contour lines, roads etc.) information -- they are on several layers, so it should be trivial to deduce which are which
Q: You wrote about "Parish Centre’s construction and operation of low-threshold activation". What does it mean definately? is that an object that has to be constructed any ways? and are there any other compulsory objects that have to be constructed?
A: The term "low-threshold activation" here means trying to reach the people who do not actively take part in the community activities. Even today the parish does quite a lot of low-level, grassroots work with them. There is a decision to build a new parish centre on the empty plot on the corner of Kirstintie and Kirstinsyrjä (block number 40022 on site plan), but the building hasn’t been designed yet. The functions in the current chapel will move to the parish centre. The teams are free to suggest solutions for the parish centre as well as new uses for the chapel.
Q: I've got confused concerning clear, articulated borders of the Suvela region. Is that possible to define these borders more accurate? I mean, can you tell me the names of those streets that tend to create these borders.
A: The Sunantie, Siltakatu and Suvelantie streets are quite natural borders. On the southeast side, the border isn’t as clearly defined, but Hösmärintie and Joupinpuisto streets can be seen as such. Please see the EXTRAS section for new related info.
Q: My group and i were wondering, specifically the school, mall service center part, if it allowable to go beyond their limits and transform the area around them. we wish to modify the houses N-E of the school so as to add value to the "people" part and make them part of the "people". is the allowed?
A: Yes, modification of houses located N-E to the school is allowed.
Q: I had a question regarding the order of the 3 presentation posters (Public, Private, People). Do we have to stick to the order presented in the template or can we reorganize them so that its suit our proposal.
A: For review purposes, the guidelines given for the posters have to be respected as well as the order given in the template.
Q: Regarding the climate
1) What's the average length of the seasons in Helsinki?
2) Which are the maximum and minimum temperatures during each season? A: Please, see
http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/climate
Q: Regarding the people
1) Which are the most popular activities during winter time? Since this seems to be the dominant season..
A: Winter isn’t really the dominant season (see
http://en.ilmatieteenlaitos.fi/climate), although it is the most challenging one for outdoor activity. Popular outdoor activities in the wintertime include:
- walking
- skiing (there is a maintained and partially lighted, fairly comprehensive ski track network through the metropolitan area, see
http://www.mski.fi/espoo/)
- skating (there are several outdoor skating areas, see
http://www.mski.fi/espoo.mskate/)
Q: 2) Is cold climate somehow an obstacle to practice outdoor activities for Finns? (I'm asking this because when observing the new library on the northwest side of the area of intervention, I found an interesting outdoor empty space -square-. Is this space used during the winter?)
A: To some extent, yes. The short daylight time, cold weather and snow obviously affect how outdoor spaces are used -- you don’t see many people lounging outside on the terrace and having a cup of coffee when the temperature is -20 Centigrade. On the other hand, Finns are relatively active in outdoor activities, regardless of the season. The main activities naturally vary depending on the season.
The square next to the library isn’t used very much in the winter, but then again it’s not particularly active in the other seasons either, at the moment.
Q: Regarding the buildings:
1) Is there any problem in relation to the soil that prevents from building parking lots below ground level? It seems all parking spaces associated to the buildings in the area are at ground level.
A: The problem is not the soil, but the building cost efficiency, as it is very expensive to place parking underground. It can be done, but the result must be financially feasible, ie. there must be quite a large number of houses/apartments using it.
Q: Regarding the surroundings
1) I haven't been able to determine what kind of trees can be found in the area. Can you help by telling which species are the most common there?
A: All the typical southern Finnish trees, eg. pine, spruce, birch, maple, linden, alder...
Q: Are we allowed to intervene in the interior of the buildings?
A: Yes you are.
Q: Concerning the parking lots, do you happen to have a statistic about the number of cars in the neighborhood? If so, we also would like to know how they are located and estimated with respect to the residence in the study area.
A: A rough estimate of the current parking spaces has been added to the competition materials in EXTRAS.
Q: How effective is the use of bicycles during summer and winter?
A: Bike connections to the area and inside it are relatively good. In wintertime some of the minor routes are not kept open (note that we had almost a metre of snow this winter), and the weather (it might get down to -30 degrees Centigrade) does limit the convenience of biking. Still, biking is relatively common in winter as well.
Q: What is the vehicle activity in the main street during different time of the day?
A: Traffic counts from three points on Kirstintie and some accident statistics have been added to the competition materials.
Q: Where is the trash bins located in general?
A: All residential buildings have recycling bins (often separate bins for eg. paper, cardboard, biodegradable, mixed) located somewhere close to the building. Several buildings’ bins are often in the same location. There are general trash bins located along the main streets, public areas, parks, etc. The Helsinki Region Environmental Services Authority (hsy.fi) organises trash collection.
Q: Why is the pedestrian roads numerous and fragmented?
A: Although the main pedestrian routes through the area (Kirstinharju, pedestrian and bike lanes along Kirstintie) are quite adequate, eg. the connections between Espoo Center and Central Park could indeed be better. There is no single reason -- this is one of the things the teams are encouraged to think about.
Q: What is the level of activity in the night?
A: Suvela is a rather typical suburb in that a large amount of residents goes to work outside the area, and there isn’t much “city-like” night life, besides the few pub-type restaurants. Various clubs, evening classes and other such activities take place at the school, service centre and chapel in the evening.
Q: Has Kirstintie road to become nothing but pedestrian, or can we propose another solution, without closing down car-traffic?
A: Kirstintie Road is the main road of Suvela. A linear SW-NE axis following the bottom of a small valley, it cuts the neighbourhood in two roughly equal parts. The Southwestern end leads towards the Espoo Centre and its railway station. The Northeastern end leads to Tuomarila railway station. The length of the road is around 1 km.
Currently the main challenges for the road are that it reminds a rural road with relatively high speeds and poor visibility. It also lacks immediate urban townscape as buildings mainly stand far away, behind bushes and parking lots. Safety for intersecting pedestrian and car traffic is unsatisfactory.
The competition proposal is expected to be a safe and inviting, cosy but proud space that rewards the passer-by and inhibits vandalism. Possible viewpoints for developing Kirstintie Road include, among general evaluation criteria,
- Road’s connections to properties.
- Creation of conscious variations and rhythm.
- Property development from axis development’s perspective.
- Lighting, vegetation, street furniture
Q: The location of the parish center and the location of the chapel are not very clear to us, would you please give us clearer data concerning the two?
A: See
extras
Q: Concerning paths, do you believe that a path specialized for bicycles are necessary on the main road?
A: Depends on the amount and speed of traffic on Kirstintie. With the current situation, yes.
Q:Are we allowed to change completely the function of the mall by substituting it with kiosks or rental allotments in different areas in the region?
A: Yes, as long as the basic services (grocery store etc) will be conveniently available in the Suvela area
Q: Are we allowed to extend our intervention to the parking facing the school on the second of part of the road? (Partially)
A: Yes.
Q: Are we allowed to change in the interior of the school, and can we modify the structural plan of the school?
A: Yes
Q: Do we need to introduce new residential buildings?
A: Depends entirely on your solution
Q: Are we allowed to change a section of Kirstintie road into a lower level tunnel? If so, what is the clearance of a tunnel road?
A: Teams are free to suggest any solutions. Exact measurements of tunnels and such are not necessary in a proposal -- we are looking for urban design solutions -- but as a ballpark estimate a 5 metre clearance will definitely be enough.
Q: How are the buildings heated (what fuel, district heating or per house or per flat...)?
A: District heating. (see e.g.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/District_heating#Finland for more information on the Finnish district heating basics)
Q: Is the building fabric well insulated? Any recent refurbishments?
A: The buildings are built according to 1970s standards, ie. not up to current requirements for new buildings. Some buildings in the Suvela area have been recently renovated, but most are still in more or less original form. Most of the buildings are built from elements, so there is a potential for solutions based on either renovating or replacing the facade elements.
Q: Shall we assume that each flat contains a sauna, as we have been told is common?
A:It is very common, although not all flats have them -- some buildings have a communal sauna, where each apartment has its own time slot. In general, it is common for the new buildings to have a sauna in each apartment, but the teams are free to suggest other solutions as well.
Q: Is there any type of food production happening near the site (agricultural land, food processing industry or even allotments for private people to grow things?)
A: There’s nothing on the site. There are several allotments in Espoo for the residents, and they are really popular and in demand. The closest ones to Suvela are in Tuomarila and Latokaski -- full list here:
http://www.espoo.fi/default.asp?path=1;28;11866;18678;40478;8396 (The number on the list is the number of allotments in that location)
