Hanko has since the mid-19th century been the hub of Finnish yachting as well as one of the most desirable summer residence areas in Finland. Located on the Tehtaanniemi promontory between the yacht harbour and the city’s southernmost beach, the site overlooks the stunningly beautiful archipelago. The challenge was to design the new residential buildings so that the fragile nature and the small scale feeling of the Hanko city is maintained, while simultaneously ensuring that the new apartments fully benefit from the unique location.

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The solution was to place the three buildings into an arc following the promontory’s coastline and through strong terracing and tapering of the volumes reduce the visual size of the architecture. The placing of all the parking underneath the buildings allowed us to treat the full site as an archipelagic garden. With a palette of light colours and natural materials we wanted to form a calm background from which to admire the unlimited ocean view.