07-06-2013

A boat in the woods. Apelle, project by Marco Casagrande.

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A boat in the woods. Apelle, project by Marco Casagrande.
Finnish architect and environmental artist, Marco Casagrande is the name behind Apelle, a house-boat in the middle of the woods. The site forms the origins for this harmonious design with low environmental impact.



A boat in a safe harbour. This is what Apelle – the latest creation by Finnish architect and artist Marco Casagrande – looks like; Casagrande always strives to focus on the relationship between architecture, nature and humans, already demonstrated in his iconic projects Cicada and Sandworm (http://www.floornature.com/blog/urban-acupuncture-and-award-winning-design-cicada-by-marco-casagrande-8584/  and http://www.floornature.com/blog/sandworm-andndash-organic-space-marco-casagrande-8176/) .





His proposal here is a multifunctional house in Karjaa, Finland, with a completely timber frame, as a reference to a ship’s hull.



The spaces of the warm, cosy interiors follow the principles of boatbuilding and are open to any number of interpretations. The round, “porthole” windows also emphasise the maritime aspect of this long, narrow building that rests gently on the ground.




Marco Casagrande adopted simple design solutions to make the house as “alive” and eco-friendly as possible; its excellent insulation, geo-thermal system and two woodstoves keep it warm in winter.





It is easy to sense the involvement of the people who helped construct this house-boat and who invested their energies in keeping it light and happy. The architect is totally convinced that there is nothing strange in sustainable architecture: Sustainable architecture is not rocket-science, it is linking our body to the site-specific natural environment. Architecture is a mediator between human nature and the rest of nature, which also brings in an equally great responsibility of not alienating modern man from nature.”

Architects: Marco Casagrande http://clab.fi 
Location: Karjaa, Finland
C Lab Team: Nikita Wu, Jan Luksic, Shreya Nagrath, Arijit Sen

Area: 140 sqm

Year: 2013

Photographs: AdBa Zei - Courtesy of Marco Casagrande
Construction Manager: Bengt Öhman / LU-Rakennus

Master Carpenters: Ingolf Westerholm, Jens Nylund

Furniture Design: Marco Casagrande

Furniture Prototype Master: Mirella Peltonen
Links: Sandworm http://www.floornature.com/blog/sandworm-andndash-organic-space-marco-casagrande-8176/, Cicada http://www.floornature.com/blog/urban-acupuncture-and-award-winning-design-cicada-by-marco-casagrande-8584/


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