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It matters because time is running out.

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Saw this image on Archdaily. Nice to see wooden constructions used in natural environments. Always reminds me of finnish "pitkospuut". Absolutely spot on!

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During the weekend a friend stayed over the night in our apartment. Normally we live two persons on 29 m2 with one bedroom and separate kitchen. Now when we were three, we were bumping into each other and furniture and bikes.

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Because our resources are limited, our ecosystem closed and everything is interlaced. We must change our thinking from disposable to sustainable.

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If no buildings had been built to last there would be no protected ones or other historically and culturally significant architectural heritage left. Those that make our cities and surroundings so rich. Hundreds of years from now, there have to be built heritage from this century too.

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I have never realized the importance of sustainable development so specifically. After the class and watching "Home" , I was greatly shocked. Reflecting on it, there are too many wastes in my daily life that are not taken seriously, such as waste of paper, disposable chopsticks and other plastic packaging. They are so common that I have become numb to them. And this is especially true for architecture. In my country, China, people spend a short time to demolish some low-rise old buildings and then build a large number of high-rise buildings to meet the needs of population growth. It is efficient but not very environmentally friendly. This is also worth pondering, how to build cheap sustainable buildings in a short time, and how to improve the efficiency of space use to reduce excessive construction.

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I stopped to think about the pile of waste I caused during my innosent coffee break on an ordinary Tuesday and I started to wonder how much we consume natural resources just once to then throw them away without much pain of conscience or the idea of recycling. This happens all the time, in all areas of life and in all scales - including the plastic spoons, construction industry and building materials - but it should stop and change before we wake up to realize that there are no spoons left anymore.

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Because at stake is ultimately our only home

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Because at stake is ultimately our only home

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We cannot demolish it and build a new one, we must do our part to help repair it and adapt it to future. Our perspective needs to change. As architects we will have a say in how to sustain our life in this home.

“The Earth was small, light blue, and so touchingly alone, our home that must be defended like a holy relic.”

-Aleksei Leonov, first man to walk in space in 1965

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Why do we have so many buildings with poor air quality? Buildings that we need to demolish. Everyone knows the risky solutions that became more common in the 1960s. Yet even today, the service life for apartment buildings is set at only about 50 years. When will we learn and what can we do better?

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City Living: Sustainability choices made for you

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City Living: Sustainability choices made for you

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Even though most of the  responsibility to make sustainable choices falls on the individual, the options are usually just a combination of compromises. City living in an apartment is more sustainable than living in a cottage in the countryside, right? Well what if you live in an apartment building without any chance to practice recycling, building uses the worst kind of heating, and heats up in the summers so you must buy air conditioning? While you could live in the countryside, growing a big part of your own food in your zero-emission house? Still you'd have to own a car, because the city doesn't provide public transit.

An individual have the responsibility alone.

(pic source: nbcnews.com)

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True, factual sustainability is difficult to asses with the multifaceted problem of architecture and construction. Producers, researchers and politicians all have their own agendas and neutral information is hard to come by. Studies can be forged with differing methodology and policy weighted to contradictory goals. How is one to choose the best approach without doing more harm?

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One of the most ironic headlines of 2019: 

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One of the most ironic headlines of 2019: 

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"Italian council is flooded immediately after rejecting measures on climate change" Italian politicians are of course not the only ones pulling back from climate actions, but this happening in one of the more iconic cities in danger because of sea leve rise and climate change really highlights the need for action.

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italian council is flooded immediately after rejecting measures on climate change - cnn

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Italian council is flooded immediately after rejecting measures on climate change

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Veneto regional council, which is located on Venice's Grand Canal, was flooded for the first time in its history on Tuesday night -- just after it rejected measures to combat climate change.

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We all have resposibilities to consider what we want for the future. People here and now seem way too busy judging what happened and what the others have done in the past that we forget to think how our time will be represented in history books and what we can actually change right now. Exploring and analyzing options is not enough, someone needs to be the brave one to actually take the step forward and try something new. Somehow it seems like there is always a BUT following potential ideas and that doesn’t convince people enough to hold on to those changes

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The biggest issue in many lives (and in many developing countries such as mine, still having the tiredness of wars) is that the individuals do not receive proper education on the matter of sustainability, ecological approaches, the reasons behind such concepts and practices as well as the importance of what they represent, both in institutions and at home. They learn somewhat 'expired' information that shouldn't define the reality of today at all, and they keep implementing practices that damage life itself only because they are taught. Thus the earth keeps getting worse in terms of resources, health and impact, all for the lack of awareness in the first place. For those who have never heard these emergencies, sustainability is very abstract and distant. I see our role, as physical and conceptual influencers, to keep mirroring the global issues and problems and to try to educate the society on this matter. A very simple website that flickers the idea of materiality could be this: https://materialspalette.org/palette/

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We focus so much on our own well-being and living standards at the expense of the 'other' (non human). We often exploit and are in conflict with 'the other' (they make noise, bring disease, eat our vegetables, trample our garden, poop on our cars, or they are simply food for us). But they also bring joy, like nesting birds, surviving dinosaurs. They remind us that they prevailed and come from another world when there were no humans. They remind us that we impact not just our own species, but others. Some will survive and adapt, many won't - through  human intervention. Imagine a world without 'the other'. A world for example without bird song? What kind of world would that be? (badly taken video of my own back garden in spring)

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How to preserve history in the changing world?

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How to preserve history in the changing world?

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The climate change will result in even more powerful natural disasters and harsher weather conditions. How can we sustainably protect and adapt buildings that are built in a different time period to survive the upcoming changes in climate?

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Being a sustainable consumer is not made easy

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Being a sustainable consumer is not made easy

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After Blackstone gained 10% ownership in the vegan oat product company Oatly, a storm rose in the internet. The meme (below) that was posted in several social media channels began to spread and with it began the conversations about the possibilities for consumers in this kind of a situation. Blackstone is known for its unethical actions in cutting down rainforests and evicting low-income tenants from real estate they develop. But as a consumer, how can you find out this kind of information on your own without this kind of press coverage? It's very hard to keep track on ownerships of companies and even harder to see below the public surface of their actions.

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Picture of a background picture on my desktop computer reminding me they matter! Image depicts my family and dry landscape in Sweden’s west coast, 2018, year that saw an unprecedented heatwave, sparking several wildfires around the country, affecting people’s livelihoods and well-being.

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It is important not only for architects but also for those who relate to architectural projects such as engineers, developers and clients to have sustainable mind.

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Sustainability = better materials for healthy living

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Sustainability = better materials for healthy living

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For example wood structures that are sustainable. Wood also provides better air quality in housing, and is better for mental health also (calming material).

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Indoor environments have a very important influence on health and wellbeing because people spend about 90% of their time indoors, either at home, at school or at work. That's why every Kontio house is an example of healthy living. In fact, healthy living and wellbeing is the main focus our research and development work.

Kontio log houses are also designed to last. They are made from Arctic pine (Kontio ArcticPine™), which, because of its slow growth, contains a high percentage of heartwood. This heartwood is strong and durable and also has antibacterial properties. Kontio's homes are made from massive, completely natural wood, and our structures are designed to prevent the condensation of moisture, even in variable temperatures and conditions.

Kontio ArcticPine™ is responsibly sourced and comes from sustainably managed Finnish forests, where more wood grows than is harvested each year.
Read more about Kontio Healthy Living™

Kontio houses are made of Finnish Arctic pine, Kontio ArcticPine™ which, in addition to being beautiful and durable, also has other special properties:

It promotes physical health by

CREATING HEALTHY INDOOR AIR

EFFECTIVELY BALANCING INDOOR HEAT FLUCTUATIONS

PREVENTING THE GROWTH OF HARMFUL MICROBES, FUNGI AND BACTERIA

PREVENTING ALLERGIES

PROVIDING EXCELLENT ACOUSTIC PROPERTIES

FINNISH ARCTIC PINE IS A BEAUTIFUL
AND DURABLE BUILDING MATERIAL

Kontio ArcticPine™

is ecologically sound and

AN ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY, 100% RENEWABLE MATERIAL

AN ENERGY-EFFICIENT CARBON SINK WITH A SMALL CARBON FOOTPRINT

DURABLE AND LONG-LASTING

It promotes mental well-being by

REDUCING STRESS, AND LOWERING BLOOD PRESSURE AND HEART RATE

PROMOTING RESTORATIVE HEALTH EFFECTS

IMPROVING THE QUALITY OF SLEEP

CREATING A WARM, COMFORTABLE AND RELAXING ATMOSPHERE

TIGHT JOINTS AND SEALS IN ALL STRUCTURES
CREATE ENERGY EFFICIENT HOMES

Proven air tightness and energy efficiency

With 45 years of experience, Kontio offers you top quality housing. Kontio houses are manufactured in the world's largest log house factory, using the latest technology and the best know-how in the industry.

Our innovative log houses are a guarantee of top-quality, energy-efficiency and comfortable warmth. Our continuous product development ensures tight joints and seals in all our structures, creating energy efficient homes, which meet the strictest of today's energy efficiency regulations.
Read more about energy efficiency

Bring your dream home to life with Kontio. By using logs as the material for your new home, you'll bring a touch of luxury and a unique atmosphere to your everyday life - while living in harmony with nature. Kontio log houses can be adapted to different styles and tastes, and our solid wooden houses are healthy and durable enough to last for generations.

Kontio log house designs and architecture are timeless. We offer both modern and classic designs of varying sizes in our extensive collection. Our approach to the implementation of each model is flexible, giving you a variety of options for modification and customization. Whatever your wishes, we can build it for you. We can even build unique homes and designs based on your own architectural plans. Or, alternatively, we have an international network of architects who can help you design your unique home based on your needs and wishes.

New architectural possibilities & benefits

We have an extensive range of logs and corner solutions, from which you are sure to find the right options for your house and environment. And our innovative Kontio SmartLog™ logs provide unlimited possibilities for individual design. They enable you to combine building materials, while retaining the beneficial properties of massive wood.

KONTIO SMARTLOG™ LOGS PROVIDE
UNLIMITED POSSIBILITIES FOR
INDIVIDUAL DESIGNS

Kontio SmartLog™ is an innovative solution for massive wooden buildings. It offers:

ARCHITECTURE WITH FREE DESIGN AND STYLE FOR MASSIVE WOODEN BUILDINGS

THE HEALTHY LIVING™ BENEFITS OF KONTIO ARCTIC PINE™ MASSIVE WOOD

A DURABLE, LONG-LASTING AND ECOLOGICAL STRUCTURE

ADVANCED ENGINEERING AND PREFABRICATED JOINTS, DETAILS & TECHNICAL SOLUTIONS

LOW-ENERGY CONSTRUCTION

Read more about SmartLog™

Model saved to favourites

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log house wood house wooden house kontio health air quality

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Kontio Log Wood Houses for Healthy Living

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Kontio log houses are modern yet timeless, and they create the ideal living space - they're relaxing, comfortable, and wonderful to live in. Their wooden structures are beautiful to look at, long-lasting, and energy efficient. Better still, the unique properties of Arctic pine create an especially healthy indoor environment to live in.

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Sustainable architecture matters because it challenges us to build smarter. To stand time, future buildings have to be not only ecological, efficent and flexible but also easily maintainable, repairable and recyclable.

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One thing that came into mind while watching this week's videos was the light bulb conspiracy – aka planned obsolescence. The way buildings are designed to last 50 years and no more, seems eerily similar to how products are designed to break after a certain time frame (and be difficult to repair) to maximize sales and economic growth. And all in the expense of environment.

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Affection of climate change to the construction can be understood from two vision: First, damaging weather phenomena have already been strengthened by global warming which challenges us as architects to design buildings and cities that stand for new situations. Second, we can innovate and evolve the construction field to the sustainable way.

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Mind you, "carbon neutral" may mean making up for the emissions produced by taking corrective actions elsewhere; not actually reducing the PRODUCTION of emissions.

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The construction industry is one of the most resource-intensive sectors. Why are we building buildings that only last a couple of decades?

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On this sustainable architecture issue there is a lot to be critical about (not ecological materials, taking urban/industrial space from nature, social sustainability, changed markets directing housing to very dark and small apartments etc.). How to tackle this criticality in order to create something new in real? 

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On this sustainable architecture issue there is a lot to be critical about (not ecological materials, taking urban/industrial space from nature, social sustainability, changed markets directing housing to very dark and small apartments etc.). How to tackle this criticality in order to create something new in real? 