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| photo (2021) by Juho Haaviko on Google Streetview |
In rural areas in Finland it is not uncommon for residents to collect a winter supply of firewood from a nearby forest. It also happens in Finland that someone comes up with the idea to transform such a pile of wood into small-scale buildings, as shown in the image above.
To my knowledge this is a unique Finnish happening. because so far elsewhere in Europe I haven't come across art environments with singular architecture made from firewood.
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| photo (2021) by Marja Leena-Kounia on Google Streetview |
The small buildings and other items featured in this art environment have been created by Veikko Salo, who lives in Padasjoki, a municipality of about 2,750 inhabitants (2022) in Päijät-Häme in the region of Southern Finland/
He was born in August 1947 and was active as a forestry engineer throughout his working life.
Around 2016 Salo read in an article in a newspaper about someone in Finland who had made a creation from firewood.
Around 2000 Salo had already made a firewood structure, a kind of pyramid. with a height of ten meters and a round base with a diameter of about eight meters. However, the wooden parts of the structure were stacked very close together and filled a large portion of the interior of the creation, which caused the components to deform from within, resulting in a collapse of the structure.
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| photo (2022) by Merja Kukkonen as on Google Streetview |
The newspaper article in 2016 inspired Salo to start creating firewood structures again, but this time better, taking into account the previous experience.
Assisted by his friend Ripa Töyry, who helped him with the design of the creations, he got to work.
And soon these creations began to form an art environment with its own characteristics.
The images above, dating from 2021 and 2022, show structures with a realistic design. As a visitor, one may get the idea of walking in a cozy village street.
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| this image (August 2022) and the next two from Facebook |
Because of the experience he had gained around 2000. his new creations got a much more airy structure, such as the tipi pictured above, which has a diameter of 4 meters and a height of 4.7 meters, and includes some 300 wooden stakes. .
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| this image published in October 2018 |
The image above shows a close-up of how the buildings that now decorate the art environment takes shape;
They are constructed from trunks of young trees, which are sawn into small units and then stacked, with the sawn surface or the long side facing forward.
In this way, wall sections are created, which are grouped in such a way that an entrance, a front facade, a roof section or other part of the building emerges.
By maintaining the same dimensions for the various building elements, a balanced whole is created when they are combined.
When structures are somewhat bulky or rising upwards, such as the mill in one of the images above, the help of a mobile tool with a gripper arm is called in, so that for example the mill sails can be easily lifted and attached.
The video in the documentation below shows such an approach.
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this image published in April 2017 |
In addition to the houses, the mill and other structures that comprise the art environment, there are also some creations in the form of a wooden wall on which a message is proclaimed.
For example, the wall above is dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the Republic of Finland, which was celebrated in 2017.
Documentation
* Article (November 2018) in newspaper Maasedun Tulevaisuus
* Article (October 2018) in newspaper Yle
* Article (August 2017) in newspaper MTV Uutiset
Video
* Video by Timo Lampinen (2020, YouTube, 4'35")
Veikko Salo
Creations of stacked firewood
along road 24
Quarter Likoniementie, city of Padasjoki, region Päijät-Häme, dept Southern Finland, Finland
can be seen from the road
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