the overall white space of the nearly 200 m2 oblong
building is designed to be as elegant and refined as
a temple. on the other hand there is something very
humble in this pavilion namely how the light is brought into the
space by the transparent section in the middle of the
building, as well as the lightness and discreet colour of
the new wood-plastic composite building material.
artek will use the pavilion as a platform for the presentation
of their new 2007 furniture collection alongside their
alvar aalto classics.

--
designboom visited the UPM production site in lahti,
finland and was able to see the early prototype
of the pavilion. we met shigeru ban and the technicians
involved in the project development.

shigeru ban likes to combine the demand for ecology
and sustainability in his architecture projects and his
simple construction methods often emphasize ‘weak’
materials in building technology.
his new and unprejudiced approach to paper, carton
and bamboo as building materials combined with clean
and modern architecture has made him as one of the
most important architects of his time.

the pavilion's load-bearing structures and surfaces
are constructed of wood plastic composite corner
protection pieces (L-profiles), which were originally
designed and produced for UPM's own use.
UPM developed a new method to turn
surplus waste from their production into the principle
raw material of the composite.

the L- profiles are extruded directly in the UPM production
site in lahti. being based of 60% wood and 40%
plastic (part of it is also recycled), this new composite
has many advantages -
it has proven to be tough and humidity resistant;
natural fibers are lighter than plastics,
and less expensive than conventional fillers;
it doesn’t need finishing for outdoor use and you can
work it with the same tools as for wood working.
after the demolition of the artek pavilion, these L-profiles
can be disposed of by incineration or can be recycled
back into the production process.

‘the ground of the pavilion will be built from UPM ProFi
wood-plastic deck, a similar material as the L-profiles,
that will be the first product of this series on the market’,
says vesa sorri, vice president of UPM's corporate venturing.

---
designboom asked the japanese architect a few questions:




what is you opinion about this new wood/plastic
composite, with which you created this new pavillion?
does it meet your requirements in both strength
and flexibility?

’I'm very interested in using weak materials.
the development of the structure, ...
engineers wish to make weak materials stronger and stronger.
I believe that the material doesn't need to be strong to
be used to build a strong structure. 
the strength of the structure has nothing to do with the strength
of the material.
we can make a building which withstands an earthquake 
made of paper, as I did.
so the structural strength of the building has nothing to 
do with the strength of the material.’

‘actually I brought this material (UPM), when I received it,
back with me to japan to test it.
I have my own testing engineer and we found out that
the fibre is not very long, so it can break very easy.
it's definitely not an elastic, strong material.
but this doesn't matter.
we just calculated and designed the structure according
to the strength we found out by testing.
so I have to say that this material meets the structural strength
we need to build the structure of the pavilion.’

can this material compete with your cardboard tubes?

‘well, it's a matter of the criteria, what you're looking for
from the structure. actually this material is naturally
waterproof and the paper tube we have to make waterproof,
we have to add chemicals to it. so it's different.
also the great advantage of this material is that you can
make different profiles.
here we have a 'L' profile and also behind you there are
circular profiles. UPM can make any profile, the paper
tube I use is the round or square. it's more difficult to make a
different profile out of paper...
so this material is more flexible to make the different profiles
you would need. that's a great advantage.’

on the market there's an increasing range of
decorative materials . . .

‘well, the nature of my architecture is ...,
I'm not interested in the decorative material.
I think if we designed a beautiful structure, the structure itself
is already ‘decoration’.
we’re bringing natural light and shadow inside the
pavilion, that's the best decoration in architecture /
in the history of architecture movement.
so any additional decoration is really not necessary!’

do you think that in the future, there will there be space
for the ’integrated environment’ that artek and alvar aalto 
have been supporting?

‘I fear that people are moving in other directions.
they might forget about this kind of important integration
of nature, context and construction. artek is a company which
keeps its great tradition and identity.
often the world turns to a different way,
it has its contradictions. we always have to come back to
the origin, also because the world is already thinking about
something unusual and fashionable.
but these do not last too long.
I think it's much better for architects or a company to have
a very strong identity which doesn't change too much
depending on the time. it is important that architecture
and design companies keep their tradition.
we, architects should do only what we really believe makes
sense.

on his collaboration with UPM & artek...

---
artek
was founded in 1935 by alvar aalto (1898-1976),
the most important finnish architect of the 20th century,
and his wife aino aalto. artek manufactures furniture,
lamps and textiles. in the last 8 years artek has
successfully strengthed its position in the global market
by building on the alvar aalto design heritage.
recently the art direction has been shifted to the british
designer tom dixon, hiscollaboration will build on artek's
tradition of innovation helping the company move
forward with new products by contemporary designers.
artek’s comprehensive furnishing system are used in
public spaces and offices, museums, schools, hotels,
and of course private homes.
artek is headquartered in finland and since 1994 it
is owned by the international investment group proventus AB,
based in sweden. artek has three showrooms in
finland (helsinki, espoo and turku) and one in stockholm.
http://www.artek.fi

---
UPM
is one of the world’s leading forest products
groups with about 28,000 employees worldwide.
they use a majority of finnish raw material.
UPM's main products include printing papers,
converting materials and wood products.
the company has production plants in 15 countries.
its main market areas are europe and north america.
http://www.upm-kymmene.com