Olla » News » Olla and Granlund’s proposal selected as the design solution for Niuvanniemi Hospital

Olla and Granlund’s proposal selected as the design solution for Niuvanniemi Hospital

“Winning a demanding competition with a proposal based on the empathetic power of architecture is a wonderful recognition for our team,” says Olla’s lead architect Jani Ristimäki.

The proposal NIITYLLÄ by Olla and Granlund (formerly Raami Architects) has been selected as the design solution for Niuvanniemi Hospital.

Located in Kuopio, the 140-year-old Niuvanniemi hospital area is a nationally and internationally significant provider of high-level specialized care, forensic psychiatric examinations, and expert services in forensic psychiatry. The new building will house the hospital’s highest-security patient wards with their outdoor exercise yards, as well as a modern treatment center. The building will have a total of 102 patient places and will serve as a workplace for approximately 200 healthcare professionals.

Based on a design competition organized by Senaatti-kiinteistöt and SAFA (The Finnish Association of Architects), two proposals were selected for further development. Of these, the NIITYLLÄ proposal was assessed to provide better conditions for achieving the project’s objectives. According to Senaatti, the selection was based on an overall evaluation carried out during the development phase, taking into account factors such as functionality, safety, technical feasibility, and user feedback.

Excellent collaboration led to a strong result combining human-centered design and exceptionally demanding functional requirements

Already in the first stage, the proposal by Olla and Granlund received praise for its human-centered architecture and its successful integration of new and old. “The solution presented by the authors is skillful. Symmetry and the use of the existing coordinate system connect the new building to the strict hierarchy of the old hospital environment, but the ‘liberation’ of symmetry gives the building a gentle character, reduces the institutional feel, and reflects a contemporary, human dignity–focused approach,” the jury report stated.

Olla’s architect Niina Ojanen explains that from the outset, the design team aimed to create a building that, despite its demanding conditions, would not appear institutional but instead support rehabilitation and feel as warm and welcoming as possible. Scale played a major role in the solution:

“Because the building needed to be divided into smaller parts for both user comfort and to respect the existing scale of Niuvanniemi, we chose to organize the whole so that the wards and the treatment center form their own distinct volumes. However, designing psychiatric hospitals requires exceptional attention to safety considerations, and the orientation and placement of the wards was the most challenging phase of the competition. The result is a composition of small-scale, pavilion-like volumes. The materials—wood and brick—create a connection to Niuvanniemi’s beautiful natural landscape and aim to introduce a new layer to the historic setting.”

The winning design proposal was developed by a multidisciplinary team. “Working together with Granlund’s architects and other designers, functionality expert Salla Itäaho (Saidea), and landscape architect Johanna Ristimäki (Nyman & Ristimäki) was exceptionally enjoyable. Competition projects are always demanding, but with this team we moved forward steadily and purposefully. The collaboration was pleasant throughout despite the pressures of the competition,” Ojanen concludes.

Inquiries:
Jani Ristimäki, lead architect
jani.ristimaki@olla.fi

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