Selected Projects

Sitra Low2No | Sustainable Development Competition

Helsinki has the distinction of being the first European capital with a completed comprehensive Sustainability Action Plan (Local Agenda 21 Programme). Adopted by the City Council in June of 2002, the Action Plan incorporates a framework of “core indicators” for Sustainable Development in Helsinki which have been organized under five overall sustainability groupings which contain twenty-five indicator “themes.”

The Low2No International Competition created a most timely opportunity to advance a new exemplar of sustainable development planning, the first model to integrate and advance the most relevant features of these significant individual steps toward environmental sustainability.

By utilizing the relatively passive tool of future growth, the large magnitude changes that are necessary can be implemented overtime. Naturally, the emerging sustainable technologies and best management practices (BMPs) must be fully integrated in this process of continuous improvement, however, they alone cannot begin to fully address the sustainable performance necessities.

Using this as our model for a preferred future for Finland, we can revisit the current baseline of core indicators and evolve a powerful sustainable development overlay that assesses specific planning and architectural strategies.

Croxton Collaborative Architects, in association with REX Architecture and NOW Architecture, was selected from more than 70 interactive submissions for 2nd prize in the Sitra Low2No Competition in 2009.