2/2012 - Fingrid

The opening ceremonies of theFennia Prize exhibition were held atKaapelitehdas in Helsinki in early June.The field tower was also on display inthe centenary exhibition of the FinnishAssociation of Designers Ornamo.On the next page, the happy winning team behind the field tower in the awardsceremony. The certificate of honour is held by Fingrid’s Kari Kuusela (at thefront), and Muotohiomo’s Pekka Toivanen is standing on his right. Also shown isAntti Kuljakka (at the back on the right), CEO of Fennia, which sponsors the prize.The right-hand photograph shows Fingrid’s former Environmental ManagerSami Kuitunen, who was also involved in developing the idea of the field tower.line construction rather than a designitem. A transmission line tower modelenabling work close to the tower wasneeded for field areas where transmissionlines run. The guys, or supportwires, of conventional towers preventthe use of agricultural machinery rightnext to the towers and hence reduce theavailable arable field area.In fact, the idea for the design ofthe new tower model originally camefrom feedback received from farmers.The most important target group hasalso been heard in the various stages ofthe design process. “Based on feedbackgiven by farmers, we enlarged the openingsbetween the legs of the tower sothat all agricultural machinery used inFinland can be driven through them,”says Pekka Toivanen, Managing Directorof Muotohiomo, the design agencythat designed the field tower.The design work of the field towertook a total of about 18 months, includingthorough familiarisation with thetopic and background work. The designwork was limited by the strict structural,technical and safety considerations.“The decisive factor was that the designprocess involved Fingrid’s own expertsright from the outset. Their contributionwas crucial – as was the fact that wegot a free hand to create ideas and comeup with something new,” Pekka Toivanenpraises the seamless co-operationbetween the various parties.Out to conquer the worldThe World Design Capital Helsinki 2012project in Finland has generated a lotof positive activity and raised designinto the hub of current debate even ona wider scale. The field tower has alsobenefited from this. It has been presentedin two different places during thissummer – in the Fennia Prize exhibitionerected at Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki andin the centenary exhibition of the FinnishAssociation of Designers Ornamo.Mikko Kalhama predicts that the fieldtower will have a prosperous futureeven after the summer. Next, the exhibitioncomposed of the items awardedin the Fennia Prize competition will bepacked into crates and sent abroad togather international fame. “It is conventionalthat those reaching success inthis competition have done well also inother parts of the world.”FINGRID 2/2012 | 6