Svartså Skola — Heritage Renovation into Cohousing

About

In 2009, after 103 years of operation, the city of Porvoo closed down Svartså School. We, a team of architects, were impressed by the beautiful environment of Svartså, and proposed the city of Porvoo to create a new co-housing project.

Co-housing allows the new inhabitants to have a fully normal apartment, with private kitchen and bathroom etc., but there are bigger rooms for communal use and business purposes. The process matters; every inhabitant defines the rules of the shared spaces. A community supports each other. Yet privacy is fundamental, every inhabitant is totally independent and can choose not to interact with the community.

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Team and Advisors

Team

Pedro Aibéo

Project Coordinator
An architect and Civil Engineer, who initiated this project in 2015, based also on his research of Architectural Democracy.

Antti Saravuo

Architect
The man behind Visiomo, an experienced Architect who took the challenge in May 2015.

Natalie Stratakis

Design Architect
The woman behind Visiomo, an experienced Architect who took the challenge in May 2015.

Tuomo Pulkkinen

3d Designer
An Architectural Student with an eye for 3D visualizations.

Momal Mushtaq

Digital Media
Not only for web stuff, but a top social activist.

Advisors

Jessie Cat Kelley

Recruiter
A great help in finding people to work with us.

Marcelo Diez

Architect
He initiated a similar project before, the margariinitehdas, and has been a vital help.

Mikael Långström

Digital Business Specialist
Plenty of experience in cooperative and cohousing, what a help!

What others are saying?

Projects like Svartsa Skåla are playing a key role in creating better construction projects in Finland. Co-building is a human-centric approach to build what the end users really need. In my experience, co-building can be the answer for reducing construction costs in a project like Svartsa Skåla. Co-building also gives residents the possibility to build exactly what they need. What more can we ask for?

Mikael Långström

Fira Oy

I was impressed with the vision of your project. I am a physician and psychiatrist living in Portland, Maine. I have long been interested in cohousing as a means of providing individuals and communities with better health and satisfaction and as part of developing a more sustainable lifestyle for our planet.

Ed Pontius

Physician and Psychiatrist from Portland, Main