UPM ProFi

UPM ProFi at Flow Festival 2013: Stylish spaces

Flow Festival is celebrated annually in Helsinki, Finland. It’s an urban festival combining music, design, food and art and attracted over 60 000 guests in August 2013. Modern UPM ProFi decking and cladding products complimented the festival restaurant area and champagne bar surfaces.


Design decking with champagne flavour

UPM ProFi has enjoyed a long relationship with the festival since 2008, when colourful flooring elements built of composite decking boards were used for the festival restaurant. In 2013, co-operation continued with a champagne bar makeover. “Three kilometres of UPM ProFi products are being used at the bar floor, walls and desk. ProFi components give a lot of possibilities and variation of how to use the material, and the rich colour selection of the boards suits the patterned design perfectly,” says Juhana Heikonen, the architect behind the champagne bar design.

The Champagne bar & lounge covers approximately 190 square metres. UPM ProFi Deck is the most visible element used on bar surfaces. The floor is based on the shape of triangle and consists of Snow Blue and Night Sky Black decking boards. 40-metre long bar is also coated with composite decking boards. Even the walls are cladded with UPM ProFi Facade.

“The original champagne bar was only 50 m2, but previous years champagne demand exceeded all expectations so we decided to extend the bar area,” Heikonen explains. He is very pleased with the bar appearances. “We managed to establish yet another unique space with UPM ProFi material at Flow Festival.”

 
 

Durable flooring with minimum maintenance

The festival restaurant flooring elements from 2008, covering almost 600 m2, are still in use. They are kept in storage between festivals and have remained in good condition the past six years. Architect Juhana Heikonen confirms the flooring elements require only little maintenance.

”It is enough to wash the flooring elements with jet hose every year before assembling. UPM ProFi Deck is excellent material for floors because of its stain resistant surface.”

With over 60 000 festival visitors, all materials used in the build of the festival village have to meet very high requirements. “The festival flooring has to be really durable, it is essential when selecting materials. I was actually surprised the restaurant floor elements from 2008 are still in such a good condition,” Heikonen admits.

Partners with mutual environmental values

Flow Festival has grown every year. Vice President of UPM ProFi business area, Markku Koivisto, is happy with the expanded co-operation. 
“UPM ProFi and Flow Festival are both design oriented frontrunners and share the same environmental values. It’s fantastic to see how Flow has grown from a small event into one of the biggest festivals in Finland. We are glad to be part of this festival,” Koivisto affirms.

Flow festival also pays attention to sustainable development and environmental responsibility in all its actions, as well as materials. Construction materials should be recycled, recyclable, easy to relocate and usable for several years. UPM ProFi deckings and claddings meet these requirements. Products are manufactured mainly from recycled raw materials. Every ProFi square meter includes 10 kilograms of label waste, meaning that with ProFi floor elements at Flow Festival, total of 7900 kilograms of former waste have got a new life as a high quality, long-lasting restaurant flooring.

Flow Festival is a music and arts festival in Helsinki, Finland. It was held for the 10th time in August 7-11, 2013.

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