Bränneri – Niemi Shore Bay

The proposal is organised around contrast and continuity. Niemi sits between a wooded coastal landscape and a built harbour edge, between a dense urban condition and a more open, ecological ground. Bränneri works as a bridge between these worlds, establishing a neighbourhood that can feel urban and green at once, with a clear structure that supports daily routines while keeping a strong relationship with the lake.

The project places functional centres at key intersections, where pedestrian flows naturally overlap. These nodes are designed as social pocket spaces and small neighbourhood squares, creating a legible network of meeting places distributed across the district. The intention is to anchor collective life in everyday movement, so that gathering spaces emerge where people already pass, pause, and cross paths.

Urban form reinforces this hierarchy as building blocks draw on the area’s industrial past while shaping a new living environment, with height increasing gradually from the waterfront towards the intersection of Niemenkatu and Aniankatu. This gradient protects the shoreline as a more open and human-scale edge, while allowing greater density deeper in the site. A small number of taller elements are introduced as exceptions, including a residential building and a bird tower, giving the district recognisable markers without undermining the overall coherence of the skyline.

Sustainability is framed as a practical ambition grounded in self-sufficiency. Social, ecological, and economic goals are treated together through strategies that support local everyday life and reduce dependency. One of the key moves is the use of parking roof surfaces as areas for urban growing, extending productive landscape into the built fabric and reinforcing the idea of the neighbourhood as an active system rather than a static plan.