Architect : Halo Architects

Location : Inari, Finland

Head Designer: architects m3 Ltd, Janne Pihlajaniemi, Architect M.Sc. SAFA

Client: Senate Properties

Sami Cultural Centre Sajos is located in northern part of Finnish Lappland, in village of Inari, on the southern bank of
river Juutua. Sajos is the centre of culture and administration for the Smi, the only indigenous people in European
Union. On site plan the cultural centre is formed roughly as a cross, creating different yards facing natural or man-
made attractions in the vincinity and connecting the building to it's environment. Shape is carefully plotted to avoid
harming old trees on the plot, as they grow very slowly on the latitudes of Inari.
Floor Plan
Multipurpose Hall
Auditorium
Studio
Staircase
Restaurant

First Floor Plan

Office
Multipurpose Hall
Auditorium
Toilet
Staircase

2nd Floor Plan

Office
Meeting room
Restaurant
Staircase
Different functions are packed on their respective wings, leaving a large, flowing space as a lobby in the
middle, strongly characterised by the large, round volumes of the parliament hall and the auditorium. There
are eight distinct organizations at work in the building, and a considerable number of different functions as
well: There is the Smi parliament hall and an acoustically flexible auditorium capable of housing cinema as
well as acoustical concerts and boasting interpretation facilities, a multipurpose hall, meeting rooms,
restaurant, library, archives, audio-video studio and editing facilities, classrooms and offices.

The load-bearing structure is mainly concrete cast in-situ to facilitate reasonably complex geometry.
Thermal insulation exceeds the rigorous Finnish standards. To compensate for the remote location and
large wood surfaces.the building has a water-mist sprinkler system.

Plentiful use of wood was an easy choice for a building seeking to express Smi culture. The facade is
defined by massive, full-height vertical planks aligned to eavesline. They give the building monolitic
character or varying degrees of transparency and detail depending on the angle one views the facades in.
Behind the planks the facade is clad in vertical boards and glass. All timber in the facade is spruce, treated
with iron sulfate.
In the buildings interior wood also has a great role in creating the atmosphere. The high, smoothly curving
walls of auditorium and parliament hall are clad in horizontal, specially selected and treated pine boards to
give them a luxurious feel of a handcraft object or maybe a musical instrument. They are in contrast to the
buildings rough and unfinished exterior. Seen from inside the parliament hall and auditorium have their
visually and acoustically distinct characters.