This workshop takes place in the post-industrial ironworks village of Fiskars, Finland. It focuses this year in material and ecological resilience, but also cultural and legal forms of belonging. Drawing from the Finnish principle of Everyone’s Rights, we explore what it means to design for nature, territory as a shared land and collective access. Could this historically open access to land and resources inform new forms of sustainable rural cohabitation and net-zero emission workspaces?

Participants will be encouraged to speculate on architectures that are seasonal, mobile, or commons-based, in a post-industrial landscape that is slowly shifting from extraction to care and maintenance. We will explore concepts of stewardship of land, boundaries and ownership, environmental impact, seasonality, energy systems, water and waste, local material systems, passive design strategies, co-living, co-working, self-sufficiency vs. networked living.

Background

Originally established in 1649, Fiskars ironworks shifted its production of everyday tools out of the village a few decades ago. The village didn’t stay empty for long, as the vacant industrial spaces have slowly been transformed into a new home of a vibrant artists' cooperative, housing hundreds of creatives. The Fiskars Village Works will leverage this rich cultural and craft heritage, offering participants the chance to learn techniques from local experts. Village Works not only embraces the village's new social landscape but also explores living/working concepts beyond urban settings by examining what is essential and superfluous in our urban domesticity.