In our competition entry ‘Arcadia’, the new Kurikka town hall forms a new public building for the city of Kurikka which consists of the towns of Kurikka, Jalasjärvi and Jurva, as well as many smaller villages, located in western Finland.

The form and materials of the building are discrete but elegant in order that the Kurikka church (built in 1847) will remain as the most important landmark of the Kurikka town centre. The deep wooden facades create a relief in which the different window openings reflect the nature of the functions and spaces inside. A monumental arcade of brick surrounding the building offers shelter from the rain, marking the entrances and forming permeable boundaries for the exterior yards of surrounding the building.

The higher part of the building houses the city offices under one roof in spaces flexible and adjustable also for the future needs. The lower part of the building, located more centrally, contains the public spaces of the building open and accessible to all the citizens and visitors, including the main lobby (‘the citizen’s living room’), a cafe, city services, as well as meeting rooms and the council chamber.

The public main lobby of the building offers views towards the Kurikka church. The events held in the adjacent market square can also extend inside the main lobby. The heart of the lobby is a monumental stair that can be used as an auditorium as well. In connection with the surrounding arcade of the building a small bell tower is attached, emphasizing the public nature of the building.

The deep facades of the building give protection from weather conditions and passively help to control the lighting and temperature conditions of the building together with the foliage of the surrounding greenery. Acoustic wooden panelings improve interior acoustics.

With these (and many other) means our entry ‘Arcadia’ incorporates the functional needs of today into a uniform whole, which we would like to see form a modern interpretation of the long tradition of the wooden building in the Ostrobothnia region of western Finland.