Saana holiday complex in Kuopio, delivered by Honkarakenne, wins the public vote for the Wood Award 2019

PRESS RELEASE 29 NOVEMBER 2019

Saana holiday complex in Kuopio, delivered by Honkarakenne, wins the public vote for the Wood Award 2019

Delivered by Honkarakenne, the Saana holiday complex in Kuopio has won the public vote in the Wood Award 2019. The Wood Award is presented every year as an incentive for construction or interior or structural design which represents high-quality Finnish architecture based on wood or uses wood in a way that promotes construction technology. The Wood Award has been presented since 1994. It is granted by Puuinfo Oy. The first-round jury selected 14 of the venues originally entered for the competition and Wood Award winner is selected by an expert jury.  In addition, a public vote is arranged on the entries that make the final round. This public vote was won by the Saana holiday complex, delivered by Honkarakenne. Saana holiday complex received 41 percent of the public votes cast.

”We would like to congratulate the winner of Wood Award 2019, Lighthouse Joensuu, for this great accomplishment! This year’s nominees selected by the pre-jury, were excellent and versatile, and we were delighted that holiday complex Saana, delivered by Honkarakenne, was one of the nominees. We are honoured, that holiday complex Saana won the public vote and received 41 percent of all public votes cast. We would like to thank Raimo Sonninen and the other Kuopio business partners behind holiday complex Saana, for their trust in us. They had a wonderful vision of an internationally attractive 'sauna world' and we are delighted to have contributed to its realisation. Our close cooperation continues," comments President and CEO Marko Saarelainen of Honkarakenne Group.

The Saana holiday resort, which opened its doors in Kuopio in spring 2019, is one of the most impressive public log buildings delivered by Honkarakenne this year. A group of Kuopio entrepreneurs and companies is behind the resort: Raimo Sonninen, Heikki Vienola, Vararengasravintolat Oy, Tuomo Rissanen, Maalaus ja saneeraus Konttinen Oy, RPS Brewing Oy and Juha Heinonen.

Built of log structures, this 1,000 m² sauna complex, which has an over 1,500 m² terrace with an outdoor swimming pool and smoke sauna, provides a year-round holiday experience on the shore of Lake Kallavesi in Siikaranta, Kuopio. Saana's sauna world and spa section include a 30-person mixed-gender sauna, an indoor hot tub, two heated outdoor pools, waterfall showers and heated loungers. On the lake shore, there is also which was voted smoke  sauna of the year 2019.

The building material is non-settling logs, introduced on the market by Honkarakenne, which enable modern architecture based on light joints with other material. The Kuopio architects, QVIM Arkkitehdit, handled the architecture of the premises; Honkarakenne was in charge of structural design.

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President and CEO Marko Saarelainen, tel 4,  

Honkarakenne Oyj manufactures high-quality, healthy and ecological detached houses, holiday homes and public buildings made from Finnish solid wood under the Honka® brand. The company has delivered 85,000 buildings to over 50 countries. The house packages are manufactured in Finland and the company’s own factory is located in Karstula. In 2018, Honkarakenne Group’s revenue was EUR 48.9 million, of which exports accounted for 37%.