The expe­di­tion begins as a trav­el­er lands on the Arc­tic Blue Resort Kon­ti­o­lahti. Arriv­ing via the lake one can see the unique land­scape which hides the build­ings of the leisure cen­ter. The new­ly fin­ished mas­ter plan of the area paints a big pic­ture uti­liz­ing nature as much as pos­si­ble. Peace­ful nature is today’s lux­u­ry, so the nat­ur­al feel of the area will be pre­served. Every­one gets their peace and qui­et in dif­fer­ent parts of the area. This place could also pro­vide a par­adise for remote work­ing in the future.

“This is a very unique and new con­cept. The place is easy to reach from all over the world and yet you have your pri­va­cy. There’s a lake view and deep green for­est — all in the same place. Although we are talk­ing about a large com­plex of build­ings, nature and land­scape will be pre­served as much as pos­si­ble. The build­ings will be hid­den into the land­scape and the hotel can be fad­ed into the hill, thanks to dif­fer­ences in ele­va­tion.“
Mat­ti Ponkala
COE, Ponkala Archi­tects Ltd
(Arkkite­hti­toimis­to Ponkala Oy)

Masterplan of the area enables diverse building

Diver­si­ty has been tak­en into con­sid­er­a­tion in the mas­ter plan made by Ponkala Archi­tects Ltd. Its strong point is that the area can be devel­oped in stages and one sec­tion does not have to be fin­ished before the next one can be start­ed. The build­ings in the resort com­plex can be of dif­fer­ent types and sizes. The mas­ter plan even makes it pos­si­ble to build each block dif­fer­ent­ly.
The first mod­el hous­es planned for this area are a strong match with the Arc­tic Blue Resort brand and con­cept, and they pro­vide a pre­view of what is to come. The build­ings that come after­wards are giv­en their final shape by archi­tect planning.

The surroundings provide a unique setting for a perfect getaway

A small pri­vate beach oasis. In the mas­ter plan, the build­ings by the beach are placed as if they have been dropped in the mid­dle of the for­est, so that nature has to be changed only the bare min­i­mum. The beach is only a short dis­tance from facil­i­ties and the sports field.

Small com­mu­ni­ties are formed in the plan to inland blocks that can have park-like and year-round liv­ing. Run-off rain water will be col­lect­ed into small ponds between the blocks. It would be pos­si­ble, for exam­ple, for sev­er­al fam­i­lies to rent a whole block to them­selves. The blocks would also be ide­al for ath­let­ic teams.

Arctic Blue Resort Kontiolahti enables new innovations

Eco-friend­li­ness is used as a guide­line for the area and offers a great pos­si­bil­i­ty to try some­thing new. Com­pen­sat­ing for the car­bon foot­print has been inte­grat­ed into the plan of how the resort oper­ates. Trees will be pre­served as much as pos­si­ble — after all, they are an excel­lent car­bon sink. Eco-friend­li­ness can be tak­en into con­sid­er­a­tion in build­ing mate­ri­als as well as in the use of renew­able ener­gy. The goal is to keep trans­porta­tion dis­tances short and there­fore sup­pli­ers from the sur­round­ing areas will be used when­ev­er pos­si­ble. With­in the area, peo­ple are encour­aged to trav­el on foot, by bike, by elec­tric vehi­cles — or why not give ski­ing a go.

For more information on the masterplan of the area:

Mat­ti Ponkala, CEO
Ponkala Archi­tects Ltd (Arkkite­hti­toimis­to Ponkala Oy)
+358 400 668 555