Trekoli is a wooden complex in the Kuukkari district in Pori that has been built specifically for seniors. The complex brings modern CLT construction to a protected wooden townscape in a unique way.
Trekoli’s senior complex is a special feature of Pori’s Kuukkari wooden district, which brings together wood construction from different eras. The complex hosts a community for seniors and consists of a protected, historic one-storey wooden house and a new wooden apartment building. Trekoli’s theme is one of aging with grace.
Completed at the end of 2018, the wooden apartment building draws inspiration from the surrounding dense urban town and its dimensions. The developer is the Svenska Kulturfonden i Björneborg, which supports Swedish-language culture and promotes the well-being of the elderly in Pori (Björneborg in Swedish). A wooden building dating from 1911 will be preserved on the other side of the complex. This building will host services such as the sauna, café and a hobby room. A communal garden lies at the heart of the complex.
The central mass of the three-storey wooden apartment building has been cut into four sections. The rooftops at the ends flow down to the height of the eaves of the neighbouring houses. The main entrance is tucked in slightly to highlight its location. The white frames of the windows and the high stone base are reminiscent of the prevailing construction in Kuukkari.
The building includes 26 accessible senior apartments and spacious communal areas: The ground floor has a communal living room serving as a lounge with a high ceiling opening all the way up to the second floor. The lounge houses a communal area, a small kitchen, a green wall, mailboxes and the office of the activities director. Reading balconies on the upper storeys overlook the lounge. The sauna and lunch café are at the other end of the garden in the old wooden building. The basement of the new apartment building has a parking garage that allows residents to move around easily by car.
The apartments vary in size from studios to one and two bedroom apartments. All apartments have a French balcony with double doors that allows residents to open their apartments onto the garden and to have barrier-free access to the outdoors. The facilities are designed for easy accessibility. The CLT surface is visible on the exterior wall of each apartment, and the parquet floors are varnished in a matching shade. The housing types in the building serve aging individuals throughout their lifetime: the rental apartments can house one or two people and residents can switch apartments within the building.
The clear starting point for the client’s construction project was a wooden building. In addition to load-bearing structures, wood has also been used in floors, furniture and facade cladding. The building facade is made from spruce panels treated with grey varnish.
The Trekoli complex offers a communal living environment for the elderly. “Aging with grace is the starting point for the complex’s design,” says Erik Rosenlew, chairman of Svenska Kulturfonden i Björneborg. “The complex was handed over to our foundation on condition that we preserve it as senior housing. The aim is to create a communal residential and service complex that supports a good life for the elderly through communal activities and spaces. We don’t just build and rent apartments, we want to improve the quality of life for the elderly.”