CCC Software House develops and markets information systems, for both domestic and international markets. Company management has from the very beginning recognised that the development of the quality of the working environment is an essential part of personnel policy, and that architecture plays a significant role in reflecting the public image and the objectives of the company.
Tower-like
part of the building dominates the view from the Lentokentäntie Road.
The property is located in Oulunsalo, in the vicinity of the Airport. In the near future, a significant business conglomeration for the Oulu region, developed e.g. by means of architectural competitions, will be built in the area. The building project of CCC has been planned simultaneously with another office block built across the road. The objective has been to create a gateway from the Air port towards the Town of Oulu. As a result of this, the motives of mass division are to a certain extent based also on townscape-related starting points.
Two elements dominate the CCC building image on the side of the Lentokentäntie Road: the tower-like administration/visitor section and the horizontal glass-wall of the office section. Full-length gallery corridors run behind the glass wall through the entire building. The protruding masses of the conference rooms create divisions on the façade facing the Lentokentäntie Road. The external cladding of these masses is Cor-Ten steel and the internal cladding plywood with transparent varnish finish. The office section’s internal gallery corridor, which is separated from the actual office rooms with glass walls and solid plywood walls, runs behind the glass façade. The steel staircases, railings and partition screens are covered with drawn steel net. As a result of these operational starting points, the façade creates a multidimensional view to the Lentokentäntie Road that changes with the lighting conditions. The gallery corridor protects the offices against traffic noise and forms an internal “contact surface” space between the work spaces and the connecting spaces. The conference rooms located on the façade side of the corridor act both as local meeting rooms for the work spaces and as part of the internal network of common facilities, without disturbing the peace of the work spaces.
Cor-Ten
surfaces dominate the facade on the courtyard side of the building.
The office facilities are convertible combi offices, which are accessed from the gallery corridors. This ensures the highest possible conversion flexibility of the premises and also facilitates the implementation of data security measures required by the demanding projects. The ceilings are steel net elements, which makes free selection of work space locations possible. Technical connections outside the network are realised using an accordion pipe extension on the mounting column.
The main entrance lobby is a full-height space that runs through the entire frame of the building, bordering on the three floors on the gallery corridors designed like indoor balconies. The large conference rooms, private meeting rooms and dining rooms are separated from the lobby with partition walls, which can be detached to form larger assembly rooms.
Main
entrance lobby seen from the courtyrad.
The tower section contains administrative and visitors’ facilities. The sauna departments in connection with the conference rooms are located in the central part of the building frame, and made of log construction using partly glass walls mounted on metal structures. The conference rooms offer a view over the shores of the Gulf of Bothnia.
The main façade materials include glass and Cor-Ten steel. The Cor-Ten surfaces create a visual continuance to the red-brick milieu in the centre of Oulunsalo.
Lobby
opens up through the frame of the building.
The material impression is enlightened by metallic profiled steel sheet on the side walls of the office annexes and by the dark coated steel sheet on the tower section. External structures as well as the gallery corridor glazing frames and staircases are of steel construction.
Year of completion 2000
Gross area: 6 300 m2
Volume: 22 000 m3
Total costs: FIM 38 million
Photographs: Pekka Agarth