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The aim of the project comissioned by the Satakunta Students Association was to provide housing and a rendezvous area for young people from the province. The students rooms are located on the 3rd to 8th floors. Being a multi-purpose building, the Satakunta House also includes business and office premises.

The simple, massive, soapstone-clad exterior of the Satakunta House conceals a softer and smaller-scale interior rich in materials and space variations. The heart of the building is the banqueting rooms on the 3rd to 5th floors - a vertical series of spaces consisting of a restaurant, assembly hall, library, quilt rooms and the adjoining lobbies. In these central areas, the use of wood plays a decisive role in creating the ambience and improving the acoustics.

The point of departure for architectural design was to give due consideration to the intrinsic values of the building and to retain its authenticity, though a number of compromises had also to be made. Where possible, construction work and alterations were to be kept to a minimum and all that could be repaired was to be preserved.

A major task was the restoration of the two-storey high, partially curved and oblique wood-panelled walls in the assembly hall and relocation of the associated sliding wall. Apart from the actual species of wood involved, the current appearance of the panels has been affected by the direction in which the veneer was cut, subsequent lacquering and possibly staining as well as by exposure to the sun over the years. Finally, a dedecision was made to repair and complement the wood panels with walnut because it had the proportion of the dark and light wood that was closest to that of the original wood species. The patches were stained and the final colour achieved by tinting the lacquer.

Text is taken from PUU 4/1999 magazine.