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The Wednesday Journal of Cultural Insights.
KOJA, a micro-space house up in the trees, designed by Finnish designer Kristian Talvitie has us pondering on how the future of sustainable travel will look.
Acting on both a responsibility to future generations and the planet, as well as the realisation that if we don’t take better care of the environment, there won’t be any users, the Finnish designer set out to make something desirable and realistic.
Something that invites visitors to remember their local environment and their place within it. And in doing so, be encouraged to act regarding the unfolding emergency that is the climate crisis.
“Most designers look at the design from a user perspective. I also look at things from the environment’s perspective.”
Kristian Talvitie
Koja [kåj`a], noun. 1. A Swedish word meaning “hut” or “den”. 2. A minimalistic building, realised in sustainable materials, that provides an immersive nature experience.
Answering the 2021 contest’s theme of “progress”, KOJA encourages societal progression while offering some potential solutions to current issues like the aforementioned climate problem.
Realised in durable and sustainable materials such as wood and wool, KOJA encapsulates both the Polestar design language and their sustainability values, symbolizing a shift in both the way we use materials and the way we define a space.
The jury panel of the 2021 Polestar Design Contest were impressed enough to award KOJA the honourable mention.
Assembled in Fiskars, an art and design hub in southwestern Finland, KOJA is the first submission from the Polestar Design Contest to be realised at a 1:1 scale, taking form alongside the Fiskars Village Art & Design Biennale. A “topical, egalitarian platform for encounters between makers and enthusiasts”, the Biennale is a natural backdrop for Talvitie’s ground-breaking design.
KOJA, similar to the five architecture pavilions that will be on display during CHART 2022, shows the world alternative ways to live with and within nature.
Photography courtesy of Polestar
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