One of the key objectives of the renovation of Alvar Aalto’s Sokeripala was to improve the fire safety of the building. To improve the lobby’s fire safety, the design team decided to refurbish the lobby furniture, and to make the reception desk and coffee table from non-flammable materials.
The project’s principal designer, architect Marianna Heikinheimo, proposed that the furniture be made using marble slabs left over from the facade renovation. The result is an architecturally meaningful and fire-safe ensemble that respects Alvar Aalto’s original choice of materials and supports the listed building’s historical stratification.
The furniture was ultimately designed by Paolo Ulian, an Italian artist and industrial designer specialising in marble from the Carrara region of Italy, where the Sokeripala’s marble slabs originate.
Ulian studied the architecture of the Sokeripala and the work of Alvar Aalto, and designed the matching ensemble: a reception desk and coffee table made up of several overlapping marble slabs, and a Cosmic Visions -marble piece with a pattern of marble cubes resembling sugar cubes. After Ulian’s design sketches were completed, the design process continued at Ark-byroo. Heikinheimo developed the implementation plans for the furniture in collaboration with Ulian, ensuring their realisation together with the stonemason and structural designer, and supervising the finalisation of the project.
Read more about the new unique marble furniture in the lobby of Sokeripala.
