Prefabrication experiments - 184 - Exhibition houses - 05 - Marimekko house

Well known for branding beautiful products, from clothing to household items, Marimekko is a Finnish based company founded in 1951 by Armi Ratia.  When her first business venture into producing bold colorful and patterned fabrics failed, Ratia hired a fashion designer to design a clothing line from the fabrics. The first fashion show’s popularity helped launch a successful company that endures as an icon combining beauty and everyday products. 

Perhaps a little less known is the company’s incursion into the factory production of architecture. A prefab dwelling and a sauna were part of the company’s efforts to bridge architecture and its production. Armi Ratia together with architect Aarno Ruusuvuori and builder Polar Osakeyhtiö formed a partnership to build a factory and a 250-unit prototype village based on modular dwelling clusters. In the early 1960s, Ruusuvuori a Finnish architect was already known for his purely modern aesthetic.  Contrary to Aalto’s more regional Finish modernist approach, Ruusuvuori’s modular systems were more in tune with a globalized modernism. The village, Marikylä was to be a manifestation of Marimekko’s successes in clothing applied to modern building methods. The master plan included 60 to 120 square meter dwellings. Designed as a composition of  masses and voids, each individual unit either defined an exterior courtyard space or surrounded a private courtyard. 

The only house that was built, was an expression of modern sensibilities showcasing a simple box aesthetic rejecting any regional associations. The basic rectangular prism was a linear assembly of 4 factory regulated modular building sub-assemblies (segments) measuring 3x4x2.4 meters.  The prototype 48 square meter minimal dwelling employed a simple structural system, a timber stud core framework clad in modern veneered materials, expressing a simple mass elegantly punctuated by window placement. The stressed skin was chosen for its stability and simplicity for a factory production. The dark blue color was most certainly a way of linking the house to Marimekko’s boldness, applying the idea of a colorful skin to the architectural volume. The prototype’s first occupants were Armi Ratia’s son with his family. The factory project failed as it is said that the proposed type of worker housing was no longer socially acceptable.

Marimekko house in its context