EriCa Green Chemistry Park Wins the 2025 Concrete Façade Architecture Award
EriCa Green Chemistry Park has been awarded the 2025 Concrete Façade Architecture Award in Finland. Designed by JKMM, the research and business environment was completed in the Finnoo district of Espoo, Finland, in autumn 2025 and brings together industry leaders, startups, and research institutions in the field of green chemistry. The contemporary research and office building is designed with an emphasis on safety, clarity, functionality, and sustainability.
“EriCa’s urban presence comes from its universal yet distinctive architecture. The building’s ribbon-like floor division seems to consciously pursue the architectural ideals of modernism,” says architect SAFA Panu Härmävaara, Chair of the Jury.
The rectangular building’s restrained formconcrete and glass façade, together with its horizontal banding, shape EriCa’s calm and precise architectural identity. The vertical relief pattern shifts subtly across the building’s four elevations, responding to weather conditions and the movement of the sun. The relief can be seen as a cheerful and personal counterbalance to the otherwise crisp and restrained architecture. EriCa is the first building in which this formconcrete technique, developed in Finland, has been used extensively as the primary façade material. The chosen fabrication method supports the building’s purpose as a green chemistry hub and reinforces its identity as a source of internationally oriented innovation.
EriCa Green Chemistry Park is owned by A. Ahlström, the Church Pension Fund, and Aktia Life Insurance, with Kemira as the main user. The façade design was developed in collaboration with Muotobetoni Oy. Haahtela Oy served as project management consultant, Ramboll Finland Oy as element designer, and Betoniluoma Oy as the concrete element supplier.
The award is presented every two years to recognise outstanding concrete façade projects. The 2025 jury was chaired by architect SAFA Panu Härmävaara. Other jury members were architect SAFA Ville-Pekka Ikola and architect SAFA, Editor-in-Chief Maritta Koivisto. Janne Kihula, M.Sc. (Tech.), Head of Section at Betoniteollisuus ry, served as the jury secretary.
Congratulations to the winning team!
Find out more about the project here.