Arno Stenbäck, Architect

I have extensive experience in a variety of architectural design commissions. During my career, I have worked in project and design development, construction planning, as a principal designer and as a senior structural engineer, and participated in urban planning projects. 

It is typical that not all plans progress to implementation, so my drawers are full of tentative designs. Some projects may even come up again in different contexts; in my current workplace, we are doing construction planning based on a site plan I did in my previous workplace.

I started in my current job in spring 2016 as a senior structural engineer for the central block of Tripla. Since the completion of Tripla, I have mainly been involved in project and land use planning. Often, projects that require an alteration of plan arrive at my desk. I try to keep my skills up to date in a variety of ways. I have qualifications as a principal designer, senior structural engineer and planner.

The professional image of an architect is at its best broad and, therefore, demanding. In addition to design, the architect’s role is to support the client with their expertise in the project preparation and decision-making process and to promote the project among the authorities and other stakeholders. Particularly in large projects such as Tripla, these other tasks are more important than planning. Large projects involve many stakeholders with their own needs and expectations, and planning takes place at many levels. Holding the reins is challenging and requires interaction skills.

I taught for several years at the architecture department of TUT and I could see how easily students sense new phenomena and, thus, find new perspectives on architecture. Maintaining interest and acquiring new knowledge are important aspects of this profession. Architecture is culture-bound, so it is important to keep abreast of changes in society, the economy and the times. Creative thinking is often based on having identified weak signals in time and being able to incorporate them into your work.

Urban planning is currently an important part of my job description. We have several urban planning projects underway in the Aviapolis, Muura and Veromies areas of North Vantaa. In these projects, large-scale logistics and warehousing blocks will be converted into new residential areas.

In urban planning, I am interested in updating Sitte’s urban space concept to a modern urban space 2.0. Cities have been designed for decades with transport planning in mind, and I feel it is time to return to a human scale and a natural way of moving around. Instead of designing around transport, we should plan for mobility. Cities should be viewed as spaces and series of spaces through the art of architecture. The experience of the environment should not be based on individual buildings but the overall built environment – the urban spaces the buildings create. Services should be within walking distance and urban space should be defined by views, hubs and boundaries.

Every era has its own ideals and expectations that shape the way we live. The younger generation’s attitude to consumption, ownership and community is changing – and has already changed. The post-war generation’s individual-centred way of life is becoming more communal; there is a growing culture of doing things together and sharing. The global fight against climate change is an important part of the work of future generations. Future generations may not reach the same level of economic prosperity as previous ones and resources need to be used more wisely. There are limits to the thinking of continuous growth. We need to reassess things.

In the mid-2000s, I was involved in developing the new DigiEcoCity urban concept with the aim of international export. Together with Nokia’s engineers, we considered the service structure of the city of the future and how digitalisation will change the way people live and its impact on urban design. Mobile working was already seen as a future way of working, but the importance of global communication and the social media culture was not understood at the time. We now know that the digital environment, the virtual space, has become a second reality for many. How does this challenge the design of the physical environment?

Arno Stenbäck
Senior Architect