Fully covered in minimalistic, dark roof tiles, this student’s apartment building offers compact space for the many students of Tampere – challenging common perceptions and contradicting expectations.
In the dense city centre right next to the campus of Tampere University, a new residential landmark is rising. Tampere is one of Finland’s most student-dense cities – nearly one in six residents is studying – and the demand for housing is growing.
Completed in summer 2025, the building, also known as Willa Amanda, provides 101 modern apartments for students. The project was developed on a tight innercity plot. Limited space required precise planning and an efficient construction strategy. The solution was based on a hybrid structural system with a high degree of prefabricated building components. For instance, modular bathroom units were produced off-site, enabling faster on-site assembly and minimizing disruption within the dense urban environment.
Its most distinctive element is its exterior: a dark façade clad in Actua Black Titanium roof tiles sets the building apart. Traditionally associated with pitched surfaces, the use of roof tiles on the façade transfers a familiar material to a vertical application.
The project uses Actua Black Titanium, whose clean, minimalist lines make it particularly suitable for modern, elegant surfaces – regardless of their geometrical orientation. The small-format elements of the façade create a structured linearity that visually softens the building exterior and gives the building its strong identity. Using roof tiles on façades offers an obvious advantage: the tiles are reliably durable and resistant to wind and frost, resisting the harsh Nordic weather.
The apartments are supplemented by shared amenities, including generous balconies and communal saunas – an essential element of Finnish living. Ground-floor apartments open onto private terraces facing the courtyard and on the fifth floor the apartments benefit from tall, 3.2-metre ceilings. Located within walking distance of the university campus and minutes from the retail and social hub of Tullintori, the project embodies Tampere’s reputation as a student city.
Beyond housing, the project aligns with environmental ambitions through its pursuit of sustainability certification, integrating material efficiency and prefabrication. By elevating a humble roofing material into a defining architectural feature, Pinninkatu 47 suggests a new direction for urban student housing. Innovation is not always about inventing new materials, but about seeing proven ones differently.
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