WISA Wooden Design Hotel, Helsinki

Perched on the edge of a rocky outcrop in Helsinki Harbour, overlooking the gothic spires of the Finnish capital, a new, swooping structure has recently taken residence. Titled the Wooden Design Hotel, this unexpected guest offers an elegant lesson in what best to do with wood.

See more of this Helsinki-based swooping wooden structure

Despite its deceptive title, the undulating wooden structure is in fact not really a hotel. More of a temporary housing prototype able to hold the occasional guest, the woody monument has been designed by Interior architect Pieta-Linda Auttila for timber merchants WISA, as part of a commission to reassert the architectural benefits of the material.

Constructed in Finnish pine, birch and spruce, the 'hotel' constitutes an angular wood-decked tube, which expands flatulently in the centre - curling off into billowing shapes before returning to uniformity at each end.

With two separate living quarters situated at both ends, and a central, shared atrium in the centre – everything from the benches to the beds are constructed in the ever-present Finnish pine, whilst walls and ceilings come coated in ethereal shades of Birch.

Rising out of the sea on its dark, stony island - the structure, in place until the end of September, is not designed to blend with the scenery. Built to bring wood back to the drawing board - we're wondering where it will end up next, any takers?

30 July 2009 | Architecture