News

Bryggman Award to Toni Österlund

Architect Toni Österlund was awarded the Bryggman Award by the Finnish Association of Architects, SAFA. The award was given on the work done in the design, education and research of algorithm aided design in architecture.

The award for the sum of 7,500 euros, from the Carin Bryggman and professor Eric Bryggman fund, is given every second year to an architect and every second year to an interior designer under the age of 35.

The SAFA press release (in Finnish)
The Bryggman fund press release (in Finnish)

Conference in St. Petersburg – “Architectural Opportunities of Wood in Construction”

The fifth International Conference “Architectural Opportunities of Wood in Construction” was held at the Stieglitz St.Petersburg State Academy of Art and Industry, Russia in September 19. Toni Österlund was giving a keynote lecture there, subject “HILA pavilion – design and construction”. Other keynote speakers included Ro&Ad architects from Netherlands, Amanda Mosley from UK and Walter Unterrainer from Austria.

More info about the conference and speakers:
V INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE “ARCHITECTURAL OPPORTUNITIES OF WOOD IN CONSTRUCTION”

Workshop at Kyoto, Japan

The University of Oulu and the Tampere University of Technology took part tin the workshop organised by Kyoto Seika University, the Fuji Women’s University and Finnish Institute in Japan. Toni Österlund took part in the workshop as a teacher, representing the University of Oulu, Faculty of Architecture.

Workshop was held at the Kyoto Seika University, Kyoto, Japan between August 18 and August 20.The theme of the workshop was “Reconstructing nature” and included lectures from each participating University and teacher.

DigiWoodLab workshop – HILA pavilion

HILA pavilion is part of the summer workshop series at the University of Oulu, Faculty of architecture. The students of architecture created the concept and constructed HILA at the Kiikeli island, located right in front of the city center, in summer of 2014.

The workshop was held in collaboration with the Oulu University’s DigiWoodLab project, which aims to develop and research methods for designing wooden structures and architecture using algorithm aided design methods and computerized manufacture in collaboration with Finnish wood industry. DigiWoodLab project is managed by Toni Österlund. Hila pavilion was designed using parametric modeling tools, which allowed for a very fast design time. The design, analysis and fabrication of the pavilion took place within four weeks.

More info on HILA:
PORTFOLIO
ARCHDAILY
FACEBOOK
RHINO BLOG

Algoritmit puurakenteissa – book

DigiWoodLab has published a new book called “Algoritmit puurakenteissa – menetelmät, mahdollisuudet ja tuotanto“, written by architects Toni Österlund and Tuulikki Tanska. It is an introduction to algorithm aided design and parametric modeling. The language of the book is Finnish. The book is divided into five chapters, depicting theory, working methods, production and possibilities through built examples.

The book was published as a limited edition print and as a freely distributed PDF. The book can be downloaded from the BOOKSHELF page or from DigiWoodLab’s homepage.

NAME: Algoritmit puurakenteissa – menetelmät, mahdollisuudet ja tuotanto
WRITERS: Tuulikki Tanska ja Toni Österlund
PUBLISHER: DigiWoodLab
LANGUAGE: suomi
YEAR: 2014
ISBN: 978-952-62-0455-0 (print), 978-952-62-0456-7 (PDF)

Digital Design courses finished at Oulu and Tampere

The two courses, taught by architect Toni Österlund have come to an ending. Digital Design & Research – workshop13 at the University of Oulu and the Digital Design in Sustainable Urbanism at the Tampere University of Technology were finished late last year. The two courses provided a lot of inspiration to both students and tutors as the dealt with the possibilities and design exploration of algorithm aided design methods and parametric modeling through the use of Rhino/Grasshopper.

Course results can be viewed in the Digital Design & Research’s Facebook page.

Oulu University funding for PhD research

Toni Österlund was granted two year research funding from the University of Oulu, uniOGS graduate school for finishing his doctoral thesis, working title: “Designing and Controlling Adaptive Lighting – Non-linear adaptive interactions of lighting”.

The funding was granted based on the Open-Res call for doctoral students. The funding period is from 2014 to 2015. The previous funding from the “Adaptive Urban Lighting – Algorithm Aided Lighting Design” project ended at the end of 2013.

Article about DigiWoodLab in PUU|WOOD|HOLZ|BOIS magazine

The Finnish PUU|WOOD|HOLZ|BOIS magazine presented the new DigiWoodLab project in 3/2013. The article text was written by Toni Österlund and Tuulikki Tanska. The article presented the pilot case study of the project, which is the diploma thesis of architect Tuulikki Tanska, titled: “Methods of Geometric Optimization in Architectural Design – Case: Sports center in Linnanmaa, Oulu”. 

DigiWoodLab is a project at the University of Oulu, Faculty of Architecture, to study and test the potential for Finnish wood architecture inherent in algorithm-aided design methods and computerised production. The project aims to develop structures and construction at the scale of public buildings, utilise new digital-design methods and the smart solutions enabled by them.

DigiWoodLab is funded by the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and led by Professor Matti Sanaksenaho. The project team consists of Toni Österlund and Tuulikki Tanska. The development work is being carried out in teaching sessions, workshops, diploma theses and exhibitions.

Valoisa ja vetovoimainen kaupunki seminar at Oulu

Valoisa ja vetovoimainen kaupunki seminar assembles together a group of lighting and urban development professionals to discuss whether developments in urban lighting can add to the attractive value of cities. New info is also provided about the possibilities of intelligent and adaptive urban lighting.

The Adaptive Urban Lighting team will be presenting the research project and its results.

The seminar program can be read from here (in Finnish)