Last year, the City of Imatra and Lappset Group Oy came together to organise this competition for ideas for spatial planning, with the Ukonniemi tree nursery being the target location. The grand jury for the award chose the winning proposal as the “Maiha” idea devised by a team of two students from the Häme University of Applied Sciences.
The wining proposal chosen by public vote was “imatraLAINE”.
The shadow jury, comprising students from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä, chose the proposal named “Voimala”.
All prize-winning competition works were proposals made by students of the Häme University of Applied Sciences. The results were announced at the Landscape and Technology Expo Viherpäivät 2020 held in Jyväskylä on 12 February.
The contest for best idea sought proposals for developing the Ukonniemi activity park
The jury praised the winning proposal for its outstanding consideration for the placement of a wide variety of functions with areas to be left open. Terrain forms, routes and flora choices were skilfully designed. The winning proposal was the idea named “Maiha” brainstormed and designed by students Sanni Virjula and Johanna Kuurila who were awarded the grand prize of 3,000 euros.
The runner-up, “Kipina”, designed bySanna Agrillander, Eila Hannula, Päivi Kokkola and Tiina Paalasmaa, was awarded a prize of 1,800 euros. The jury felt the proposal was uniformly designed and included a wide range of functions. The proposal also paid homage to the history of the former nursery in the form of a park.
Coming in joint third place were two proposals: “Virtaus” by Riikka Lipsanen and “imatraLAINE” by Leea Puranen, Tanja Vaalivirta and Miia Vehkapera that received commendation in addition to winning the public vote. The two proposals coming in joint third position were each awarded a prize of 900 euros. The public vote was organised on the City of Imatra website that was visited over 1,200 times and received a total of 450 votes. The winner of the public vote received an award of 700 euros.
Shadow jury comprising students from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences chose “Voimala”
The shadow jury comprising students from the Faculty of Sport and Health Sciences of the University of Jyväskylä chose the best proposal as being “Voimala”, produced by students Ella Kaakkola and Maria Ingström. In making their selection, the shadow jury emphasised versatile activity areas designed for users of different ages, the challenges posed by different spaces, and compatibility. The winner chosen by the shadow jury was awarded a prize of 700 euros.
The competition was aimed at students of landscape architecture and landscape design and received 16 proposals, from which the pre-jury chose eight finalists to present to the grand jury. The winners were chosen by votes cast in a secret ballot at a meeting of the grand jury convened on 15 January.
“We received a number of great ideas through the competition. We are not only overjoyed, but also somewhat astounded. Now our job is to come up with the best way of utilising these proposals, one piece at a time. We pick out the best features of a number of proposals for implementation”, states Erika Luhtanen, Landscape Designer at the City of Imatra.
Lappset Group Oy has organised these spatial planning competitions for ideas for 44 years in cooperation with municipalities and city councils.
The competition for ideas is part of Lappset’s social responsibility activities and its customer and university cooperation.
The competition proposals can be viewed on the City of Imatra website:
Further information available from:
- Erika Luhtanen, Landscape Designer at the City of Imatra, tel. +358 20 617 4704
erika.luhtanen@imatra.fi
- Aarni Mertala, Concept Manager, Lappset Group Oy, tel. +358 400 328 481, forename.surname@lappset.com