Five groups were invited to the Turku Market Square design competition: Insulae, VSU, Inaro, Sigge-Valoa-Loci, and Nembi-Lauttinen. The tasks of the competition were to design an idea-rich, functional, visually interesting, and high-level overall plan for the Turku Market Square. The plan should combine the elements that place the market together and present them with a unified visual overview.
The market place should be functional and form different places to serve different users. The use of environmental information in the area, accessibility, and the routes of market traders also had to be taken into account in the competition entries.
The competition entries were presented on the Turku New Market Square webpage and the audience was allowed to comment. Our proposition, the “Saariston sydän” (“Archipelago Heart”) proposals received more than 700 comments from the public, which were mostly positive and the jury chose the proposition as the winner unanimously.
Lighting as part of the design competition work
The goal of the entirety is intelligent, adjustable, and visually transformable lighting. The functional general light of the driveways adapts to traffic volumes, clock, and amount of light, while the visual lighting of the market adapts to the seasons.
The overall look of the lighting is elegant and calm. Liveliness and elegance mean the play of light and shadow, simple beauty, and the right relationship of light to a valuable urban environment.