LAB #4(43) 2008

Sami Rintala _ Alchemy | Photo Ivan Brodey, Are Carlsen | Photo courtesy of Sami Rintala | Text Eugenia Bakhturova | «Ah!» – this exclama- tion suits well at the beginning of every sentence describing this house. In fact, it can convey anything from amusement by some facts to fascination because of the architect’s savvy. But the main «Ah!» is because of the area – it’s only 19 square meters. A kind of booth in the center of the city. With a secret inside. In the North all the buildings should be very ver- satile in terms of weather protection. Furthermore, houses should be heated for more than half a year, so additional energy sources are necessary. And, of course the environmental regulations should be observed. Of course one can lock themselves in an underground bunker or in the aerospace chamber. Going to Africa can be considered the most radical solution. But what should the people attached to their homeland do? Go and ask Sami Rintala, of course. As they often say, «your ad could be here». If you could design and develop such sophisticated, comfortable and, as should be mentioned, environ- mentally friendly houses. Sami Rintala began working more that fifteen years ago, first as an artist and a landscape architect. In fact, he didn’t cease to be a landscape architect, but changed the project focus from exterior towards in- terior. Very recently everybody praised his Element House, where the architect was creative enough to realize four elements. In a sense, this project con- tinues his obsession with elemental magic, first of all in usage of materials: metal, wood, glass. Maybe they are not objectively necessary all the time, but it is them, as the architect believes, are the three pillars of his universe.

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