An international team of architects and fine carpenters in collaboration with the Finnish National Museum brings modern architecture into the Seurasaari open air museum in Helsinki, Finland, for the summer of 2017. Y was erected in the historical Niemelä Tenant Farm courtyard.

Y is an equation of temporality, time and provocative use of wood in the museum milieu. Niemelä Tenant Farm is an example of traditional Finnish vernacular architecture consisting of 13 buildings, brought to the museum island in 1909 from central Finland. The temporary piece forms a new social courtyard at the tenant farm entrance, as an addition to the existing courtyards for animals and humans.

The installation seeks to encourage the visitors stay longer in the Niemelä by altering the familiar and permanent museum environment. Y provides a hypnotic meditation spot from where to reflect on the changing state of time.

Tradition is born out of continuation and the sharing of knowledge and skills – the conjunction of new and old. As Y is the mathematical symbol for the unknown, the installation Y points to the future and the possible outcomes of Nordic built heritage. In Niemelä, Y is a variable within the parameter of time.

Y combines digital fabrication with handcraft, inspiring and revealing the possibilities of wood in modern construction. It encourages cross-border collaboration between architects and carpenters, as well as the combination of traditional working methods of fine carpenters with digital design and production. Y is built with horizontal prefabricated CLT-elements interlocked by 568 timber wedges and is itself like a large wooden joint made of CLT.