Liina Transitional Shelter
As the final year project for the Wood Program at Aalto University, we designed and built a shelter prototype that can be assembled by two adults in 6 hours with only basic tools.
LOCATION: Otaniemi, Finland
STATUS: Completed
PROGRAM: 1/1 research prototype
AREA: 18m2
Liina is made of timber and timber-based materials. A series of prefabricated sandwich panels that can be easily transported and assembled, and can be flat-packed into a small space. Six panels are joined together with simple, repeated timber-dowelled joints to form a frame and tightened using nylon straps (‘liina’ in Finnish), like those used for the transportation of cargo. The strap creates air-tight joints without any metal fasteners or the use of electric-powered tools on-site. The frame is then tilted up and stacked one by one with the other frames. Finally, the building is protected from water and UV damage with a tent-like canopy.
The modularity of the design makes it possible to add or subtract frames.






Architectural Design and Construction: Hugo Plagnol, Signe Aarset Loe, Miguel Castillo Lopez, Aleksandar Cherepnalkoski, Megan Groth, Vladimir Ilic, Rebecca Littman-Smith, Marta Marcos Marono, Maria Mor Pera, Chaeham Oh, Bernardo Richter, Einari Sutinen, Dmitry Troyanovsky
Structural Design: Ulla Hakulinen, Kai Nordberg
Timber Engineering: Kristoffer Gull, Annukka Hirsi, Emil Jansson, Samuli Kimpimäki, Olli Koski, Pasi Salminen, Arefi Shaghajevg, Tiina Varetsalo
Tutors: Pekka Heikkinen, Matti Kuittinen, Pentti Raiski, Cristina Santamaria Nogueira, Hannu Hirsi, Ransu Helenius, Mikko Merz