Villa Staffans, belonging to the shipyard director Allan Staffans, consists of three wings. The living room wing with a tall pyramid-like roof is the core while the bedroom wing is on the sea side to the east and the wing comprising the kitchen and garage is to the west. Bryggman later used a very similar spatial scheme in the design of Villa Nuuttila, built a few years later.

The entrance of the building is from the junction of the living room and bedroom wings and is marked with a pillar clad in glazed tiles. The living room, which is currently used as a meeting room, has a ceiling with exposed beams. Next to the window that overlooks the view is a fireplace, the distinct chimney of which is a dividing element in the façade. The façades are rendered and the foundation plinth consists of irregular-shaped stone blocks. On the side facing the sea, at the junction of the wings, there is a canopy supported by stone block pillars.

The separate sauna building comprises the sauna itself – with a window overlooking the Vapparn Strait and the sea – a dressing room and a terrace as well as the caretaker’s dwelling.

From 1951 to 1959 the villa functioned as the residence of the priest of Kakskerta and after that as the Sinappi Youth Camp Centre of the Turku and Kaarina parishes. It was renovated in 1992–93 and again in 2003–05 by LPR Architects.

Villa Staffans is listed on the DOCOMOMO Finland registered selection of important architectural and environmental modernist sites.

Text: Mikko Laaksonen