4/8 But this is still a school, a place for children. They usually tell me that hey, Andersson, you make funny looking art, it is good for schools and daycare centers. I usually respond that the children already knows how to turn the most boring things into something fantastic, it is the adults who need a fresh breath of their long lost “child inside themselves”. In 1995 I was lucky to meet Erkki Pitkäranta, an architect with an own small practice in Helsinki. He turned out to be the same kind of adventurer as I and we formed a team called Rosegarden, specialized in making buildings, interiors and art based on tales, imagination and inspiration from nature. We believe that an artist and an architect should work together on the whole concept of the building, including the outlook. In this way art is not an element put on- or into the building at a later stage. It becomes an essential, integrated part of the whole building.

We don’t feel that it is important to discuss if architecture is art or not, if the architect is an artist or if the artist becomes an architect. The important thing is that we approach the subject, the building from slightly different directions. From the artist’s point of view, I don’t have to think about the realization of the ideas, how the ideas will take form in something which actually CAN be built. This is Erkki’s worries. Together we inspire each other to go further and further. We never say no to ideas. If something cannot be used it can always find a place in later stage of the planning process or in a coming project. We play around freely, cut models from cardboard, paint them etc. Simultaneously we make stories, which inspire us to find solutions for how different parts of the buildings should be made. The text is also important to give content to ornaments and details in the building. They all refer in some way to the story. The process reminds of a children's play, usually we end up spreading our sketches on the floor.
The architects working in Erkki’s office will then scan the models and turn them into CAD language.
To make these ideas more real, I will present two of our projects, which show how these ideas are working in practice. Cumin, the cow house and Gerbera the flower house.
Rosegarden was commissioned to make plans for an organic cow house, to find an architecture, which would express the ecological concept of the farm.



When we met the farmers we started by asking what colors do the flowers have, which the cows like! After the initial confusion they started to reveal a lot about the lives of the cows. We wanted to make a cow house based on what the cows like! We also wanted to make the whole building with recycled materials both to keep down the expenses and to express ecological issues. forward