New usages for the surrounding spaces of the apartment house

The comfort of the suburbian spaces and the surroundings of the apartment houses have began to be considered more and more important. As the concept of the suburb evolved after the second world war, the aim was to house as much people as possible with the lowest cost as possible. These days many old suburbias, build in 50´s, 60´s and 70´s have seen a face lift, in which the surroundings have been made greener, the streets more attractive for walking and for cycling and the general outlook brighter and colorful instead of the grey of the concrete buildings and parking lots.


In our apartment house the renovation of the yard areas was carried out couple of years ago. Some obstacles were met due to surroundings which are protected for some extend by the town planning. The planting areas were renovated and new trees planted, while some old ones were cut down to have more sunlight at the yard. Most of the area was functioning previously as a parking place. While most of the parking places were preserved, as most of the inhabitants have a car and need it, room were made also for playground areas and relaxing spaces with benches and tables.


Old playground equipment were original ones, the house being built in early 80´s, so these had seen their better days already. The sand in the sandboxes were changed into fresh one, and the old equipment were replaced by modern swings and climbing towers. Replacing the old equipment was also a matter of safety – the old climbing towers had got quite a stress from the Finnish winter, and hardly anyone let their children to climb in them anymore.


The renovation of the yard of our apartment building was successful, making the surroundings more enjoyable. Neighbors started to spend more and more time outdoors ( in Finnish: ulkoliikuntapaikka ), especially in the summer. The playground serves as meeting point for residents and this way the renovation also enhanced the social connections between neighbors. The yard also won a local garden competition and got a honorable mention of its´ neat outlooks.

Parkour in Finland

Parkour is a French born method of movement focusing on moving smoothly through obstacles with speed. There are no specific movements in Parkour, but some movements are used constantly while practicing. The movements which are used in Parkour are not defining the sport as such since Parkour is more like a concept of movement, a method of moving through space.

Parkour reached Finland around late 90´s in the larger scale. The Finnish Parkour Association was founded in 2003 to advance the knowledge of the sport and to develop it and the skills needed in Parkour in responsible way. The association makes it possible to hobby Parkour almost anywhere in Finland. There are guided courses for beginners and advanced as well, and regular jams, which are open for everybody. The common way of doing the sports is to gather together with other practitioners in different locations and find a ways to move in particular spaces.

Starting parkour doesn't´t need any special skills or qualities, and it doesn't´t need any special equipment or purchases to start. Even with the declined fitness is possible to practice parkour, remembering of course always ones boundaries and abilities. Parkour is an easy sport to have accidents, and this is why it is important to know your limits as well. Maybe only equipment that is needed and which is quite important is a pair of robust shoes which have a good adherence and which are solid and soft for the legs. But if you find from you clothes closet a basic jogging gear with hoodie and sweatpants, you are ready to go!

Strength training for seniors

We all need to raise our level of fitness and enjoy the feel good factor that fitness brings. One way to do is through simple strength training. Several studies have shown that strength training is a safe and beneficial activity for adults of all ages. The benefits of senior sport (in Finnish: senioriliikunta ) for senior citizens are clear and when combined with outdoor activities such as walking prolongs the life as well as increases quality of life among them.

The basic studies showed that strength exercise is effective for increasing muscle strength and size in senior men, senior women and even nursing home residents.

One study was made at John Knox Village in Orange City, Florida where several elderly residents participated in the study to determine benefits of strength training. Dr. Mathur is the Medical Director of John Knox Village. He was very pleased with the patients' progress, especially their improved functional capacity for the activities of daily living.

According to Dr. Mathur, the program participants exhibited better physical and mental fitness, more endurance, and less low back pain. From a practical perspective, he found the strength training program easy to implement in the nursing home environment. He noted that the strength exercises were simple to teach and uncomplicated to perform, with gradual progressions to facilitate muscle development in elderly individuals.

Norwell Form Function creates through its functions and unique design this possibility. Designed so all people, despite their age, can enjoy it in the park, or at work, in the schoolyard for children with their teachers, or in the sports club.

Their outdoor fitness product line includes several items which are designed for strength training. For example Norwell Form Function Back is a simple way to build up strength in the back, shoulders and biceps.

Back is easy to use as it utilizes the body weight of the user as counterweight.

It’s equipped with a rubber coated seat using a portion of the body weight of the user as resistance. This way the user doesn't have to make adjustments and it improves the durability.

It fits all. There are no adjustments and it is thus always ready to use. The basis of the training is repetition rather than work out by heavy weight training.

Norwell Form Function Sit Up improves those important abdominal muscles, thigh and hip. Sit Up has several applications and it’s easy to use and equipped with a comfortable rubber coated seat. Norwell Form Function Pull Up is an extremely flexible and all round piece of fitness equipment as it combines strength training of a long range of muscle groups.

Pull Up reveals the user's strength in relation to his body weight--an indicator for the strength level of the upper body. It offers the user a long range of exercises such as chin-up, shoulder, grip and body lift as well as a variety of stretches.

Lappset Funpark in Rovaniemi offers play and games

Santasport Instute in Rovaniemi features Lappset Funpark, an indoor playground (in Finnish: leikkialue) environment for children and other age groups alike. The park is situated in the proximity of the new Sport hotel rooms and the spa. The indoor park is designed to provide games and exercises which help the development of motor skills of children. The aim in the design is also to create a learning environments where the play has a central role. The indoor playground is designed on the jungle theme and it was carried out with the help of the Lappset My Design design service. Lappset Funpark was opened in March last year.


Lappset Fun park purposes to bring all age groups together, and the indoor playground is designed with the children's´ and adults´ common experience in mind. The indoor playground can be used also by the school class groups for an alternative for an ordinary class environments. The playground features for example slides, climbing towers and ball games. It is also possible to arrange for example birthday parties for children in Fun park.


Santa sport features everyday also theme jiffies in Fun park, in which the quided playing and games are offered from the classical memory games and treasure hunt into the climbing and trampoline games. These are suitable for all ages.


Lappset Fun park and Santa sport is open on every week day. There are different kind of tickets, one with only the access to the Fun park and one which includes the spa services as well. The park offers also services for child care and children's play school and swimming school lessons.

The group that founded Parkour

Yamakasi group was founded by nine young men in Paris in 1997. Among the founders was the founding figure of the sport David Belle, his brother Williams Belle and Sebastian Foucan. The group splitted up already in 1998 but was re founded again after one year. Yamakasi name came from the lingala language and means roughly a strong man and a strong spirit.

Yamakasi group was mainly responsible of the development of Parkour with the idea of moving in urban spaces as fast and smoothly as possible. The way of the Yamakasi of doing Parkour is however a differs slightly from the original form of Parkour developed by David Belle. Yamakasi members use acrobatics and can perform for example volts and other tricks, which separates Yamakasi from the original Parkour. Along with physical skills, Yamakasi features also an idea according to which a strong individual is strong in his or her spirits and morality as well.

In 2001 the famous director Luc Besson featured Yamakasi in the film Yamakasi – Les samurais des temps du modern. The stars of the movie were Chau Belle Dinh, Williams Belle and Malik Diouf. The story was placed in the ghettos of Paris, and the main characters use Parkour to steel money from the rich people to pay off the medical bills of a young boy who injured himself trying Parkour. The group was seen on the screen again in 2004 in the part two of the Yamakasi movie directed by Julien Seri. In The Great Challenge the events take place in Thailand and the film mixes up Parkour and eastern martial arts.

Yamakasi group spread the art of Parkour and popularized the sports in many ways. Nowadays Parkour is a popular sports all over the world, and the community is growing all the time. Parkour was featured for example in the scenes of James Bond movie Casino Royale.

Senior Sports Effects on joints

Joints are complex structures designed to bear the weight ant the movements of the body. Along with ageing joints stiffen and can get even painful and the symptoms of rheumatism can increase when the cartilage is lost due to wear on the joints. Injuries experienced in the past can also affect the health of the joints in the later days. Sore feet is a common symptom of aging. Pain in the feet triggers many other problems, for example with hips and back.

A healthy lifestyle is a best prevention of the joint problems and malfunctions. Overweight is a great risk for the health of the joints. Leading an active life is even more important in the old age. If the muscles and tendons come weak due to lack of activities, the joints suffer as well when not having the help for carrying the body. Passiveness in sports can can result in poor joint health and low quality of life.


The benefits of the exercise and sports for the health of the joints are a fact. Sports can help to lessen the weight and this way help the joints in their work. Exercise affects also the bone density and this way prevents for example osteoporosis. Exercise can also reduce the impacts of chronic diseases.

Increasing the health of the joints is possible even in the old age with help of the regular exercise. If the joints are already suffering from pains and stiffness, low impact senior sports (in Finnish: senioriliikunta) can be a good option to start slowly to recover the health of the joints. Walking, dancing, cycling and swimming are all good low impact sports. There are also senior playground areas, in which the equipments are designed to provide gentle exercise for different parts of the body.

Angy Birds and Lappset start a collaboration

Rovio and Lappset announced a collaboration between the companies, in which they will build Angry Birds children's amusement parks around the world. The first Angry Birds theme parks will be build into Espoo, to Tapiola and Suurpelto areas. The playing equipments are designed after the characters of the famous Angry Bird mobile game. Espoo city will cooperate with the companies in the building of the first two parks.


The researchers have announced their concern about building playgrounds (in Finnish: leikkialue) around the aggressive mobile game theme, in which the gamer tries to destroy egg-steeling green pigs with the help of the aggressive birds. The chief of the domestic sales of Lappset Group Sari Anttila told the Espoo local newspaper Länsiväylä, that she doesen´t believe that children would think the characters of Angry Birds as that angry and hateful. She said that on the contrary, children comprehend usually them as sympathetic friends. Anttila added that even if the birds seem angry, they always have a blink in their eye. The game has gained a vast popularity and it has been downloaded millions of times and Rovio has built an extensive lineup of merchandise items around the game.

Anttila also told, that in Angry Birds theme park the visitors will be able to download new characters and game levels in their mobile phones with the help of the gps location information. According to her, these extra characters and levels are not available elsewhere. The aim is also that the children who play lot of games and sit by the computer could be lured out and to exercise and play games outdoors. The game is a good inducement for outdoor sporting for children, who live in the digital environments.