Post-occupancy evaluations as a tool for improving quality and design methodologies have been commonplace elsewhere in Europe already for many years, but in Finland we have barely begun. The methods involved can be applied not only to newly built facilities but also to buildings that have been renovated or adaptively reused.

This research consists of visits to 17 different health and social sector buildings representing all of the types mentioned above and situated in the new Wellbeing services county of Ostrobothnia (Pohjanmaa). Facts and users’ views were collected through questionnaires and these were discussed and analysed during the experts’ visits. The aim was to map out best practices in buildings for health and social care and collect the findings to support and facilitate the decision-making processes of both clients and designers.

The project was funded by Business Finland, a public sector sponsor of innovation.

This essay was written in response to the question: How would you design and plan new hospitals to radically improve patient experiences, clinical outcomes, staff wellbeing, and integration with wider health and social care?

Asclepeions – Ancient Greek centres of holistic healing are used as the primary reference. Hence, the narrative is organized around the idea of a modernized version that would complement and supplement our existing healthcare system.

The study was funded by ARA, the Housing Finance and Development Centre of Finland. Two housing units for people on the autism spectrum were evaluated using methods such as interviews, questionnaires and experts’ walk-through. The research focuses on the suitability of the environment and the outdoor spaces and how well the spatial solutions, furnishings and materials meet the needs of the residents and how they impact the everyday life in these housing units. The purpose of the study is to assemble existing data into an easily digestible form as well as to provide new information to commissioning clients and architects about which aspects of building quality are most central to the wellbeing of residents.

”This will be a good report! Rare to see a first version of such a high quality. Interesting to read and unique, this kind of information has not been available before. Excellent that you offered to do this, we would never have got it done otherwise. Your graphs are very good and illuminating. (Saara Nyyssölä, ARA)

This collection of essays was published in honour of the office’s 30th birthday. The book consists of 17 articles by architects, urbanists and other professionals from seven countries. Each writer deals with the past thirty years from their own particular perspective but all of them also, each in their own individual way, look forward to the future.

The catalogue for an exhibition in the Museum of Finnish Architecture was a collection of essays about the history of hospital design, specifically from the point of view of architectural competitions. The authors were organisers and winners of these competitions, as well as people involved in research of the subject. The exhibition itself was also curated by our office.

The project consisted of field work related to a qualitative analysis of pedestrian environments in Helsinki and reporting thereof. Qualitative analysis collects information about public urban spaces, how they are used and by whom. 32 different squares or other places within central Helsinki were analysed, as well as 14 others in suburban areas. All the major public spaces in the heart of the city were included, in the suburbs many of the chosen spots were within close proximity of shopping centres.

The aim was to gain a comprehensive understanding of the way these pedestrian environments work through using qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods, and also benefitting from the views of expert groups and accidental passers-by. In the qualitative analysis, the experts also used the 12 qualitative criteria developed by Jan Gehl.

Principles for tall building in the City of Espoo consists of a research project published as a book as well as a workshop and seminar. Elaborated argumentation on tall buildings in general and for Espoo in particular, zoning guidelines, instructions for designing the immediate surroundings of tall buildings as well as a “shopping list” for better tall buildings were included in the material. A workshop was held for the decision makers of Espoo and a seminar with well-known international speakers for the local experts and the general public.

This work is based on a methodology known as ”research by design”. It is research in which the end result is an artefact, in this case consisting of two different competition entries. In 2009, the book received the Oskari Vilamo award for the best doctoral thesis in the field of technology. In Philipp Meuser’s new book Design Manual – Hospitals and Medical Facilities (DOM publishers, Berlin, 2019), it is referred to as one of the ten most inspirational works in the field during the last 20 years.

In connection with urban design, the importance of social and cultural sustainability is often talked about, but these values are not visible in the data that is provided for designers as a basis for their work. Harris-Kjisik Architects decided to collect this data themselves, when the development of the Itäkeskus district began.

Helsinki East Urban Centre was an international two-phase ideas competition held in 2019-2020. The goal was to find innovative, inspiring, technically and financially feasible solutions that would generate a change in the Itäkeskus area from being a major traffic junction to a genuine eastern centre for Helsinki City. We were awarded the first prize in the competition in November 2020.

At present, Itäkeskus, the centre of Helsinki’s eastern suburb, is situated at the intersection of major traffic arteries and the urban milieu is dominated by large-scale shopping centres. Our competition entry proposed a new pedestrian-centric urban environment by continuing the grid plan across the motorway as an uninterrupted structure with smooth level changes. Our design drew primarily from the existing different levels in the site and the need to create an easier pedestrian access across the highway. Our landscape architects’ thorough study of the grand landscape and rock formations on the site helped us to understand how to treat the different areas of the site and decide on the green corridors, recreational routes, etc. We saw the city centre as a densification of functions and possibilities, centred around the little person on the street. So, despite the large amount of traffic in the site, the pedestrian experience will be reminiscent of an easy-going hill town. Our traffic planners had earlier worked extensively on the site and they helped us create this vision with ease. In our vision, the future centre of Itäkeskus will not just be a concentration of massive amounts of building, but will rather be created by a concentration of people, activities, events, cultures and possibilities.

Bridge Hospital is the largest construction project in the history of HUS (the Hospital District of Helsinki and the Uusimaa region of Finland). The project is an extension to an existing hospital complex and is located in a very tight site in the Meilahti neighbourhood of Helsinki. The name is derived from a bridge-like part that connects the ward and the hot hospital building to another with daytime clinical consultation facilities. The completed building will encompass roughly 70.000 square meters of built area. Construction is due to be finished next year, 2022. Building information modelling (BIM) of this project received international recognition when we secured the best public project award in the Tekla BIM Awards 2020. In this blog post, I will roughly outline the BIM process and reflect on some aspects that could be improved in the future.

Our work at Harris & Kjisik Architects has been driven by curiosity and thirst for knowledge. We are always looking to upgrade our skills and develop new solutions. Research and development has been an integral part of our practice. With the intention of facilitating a productive exchange of ideas between our projects and research, we are creating the H-K labs platform with the help of Business Finland pandemic funding.

Following the scale of work that guides our practice, our research will be organised under environmental quality – both at the architectural and urban design scales. We have identified inspiring and supportive spatiality, accommodating climatic change, realising healthy environments while ensuring social sustainability in addition to using both material and economic resources wisely and sparingly, as the central themes and challenges of our work.

The H-K Labs platform will showcase our ongoing research projects and have a blog channel where our team members can share ideas & thoughts on work-in-progress. Posts will have a monthly frequency and will aim to focus on current issues in the discipline. Our first blog post is in response to our signing up for the Finnish chapter of Architects Declare and focuses on climate change, the background of the Architects Declare movement as well as possible steps forward.