A giant snow fox, modular cabin and carbon-neutral ice hockey

Looking for a nature-rich city break? Give Lahti a try. CNN has listed the Finnish city among 2022’s best destinations thanks to its lakeside location and environmental innovations. (Photo: Visit Lahti Photo Library/ Kimmo Korpela)

An artistic shovel and ice awls are Pasi Widgren’s trusted tools. For six years, the architect-designer has created giant animal sketches on snow. This year, Widgren spent four hours drawing a 90-metre tall fox on a frozen lake near Lahti. According to NBC News, the artist hopes his work “makes people happy and encourage them to go out to hike in a beautiful nature”. (Photo: Facebook / Pasi Widgren)

Here’s a sports team leading by example. Since the 2017–2018 season, Pelicans Lahti has cut 70 per cent of its carbon emissions, making it the world’s first carbon-neutral ice hockey team. The analysis took into elements including team travel, player and staff commutes, and the hockey arena’s use of electricity, heat and ice machines. (Photo: Facebook / Pelicans Lahti)

LUMI, the supercomputer named after the Finnish word for ‘snow’, won the Data Centre Design Innovation prize at the recent DCS Awards in London. Designed in collaboration with Granlund and Synopsis Architects, the Kajaani-based pre-exascale supercomputer was praised for its unique shape and negative carbon footprint. Read more on the LUMI website. (Photo: Fade Creative)

Tarja Turunen rose to fame as the lead vocalist of symphonic metal band Nightwish. Now Turunen has switched to chill electronic beats and collaborates with EDM pioneer Torsten Stenzel on a project called Outlanders. Listen to their first single at Blabbermouth. (Photo: Facebook / Outlanders)

Alvar and Aino Aalto are known as pioneers in Scandinavian design. Now the Alvar Aalto Museum offers a unique chance to view their work – not only furniture, lights and glass objects but also the details of interiors – online. The museum’s virtual exhibition is comprised of select objects from a private collector’s Aalto collection. It can be accessed online until the end of 2023. Read more about the exhibition at Helsinki Times. (Photo: Maija Holma/ Alvar Aalto Foundation)

Sunny scenery hides family drama and hidden truths in Finnish mystery series Man In Room 301. Australian public service broadcaster, SBS, chatted with the creators of the six-part series. The conclusion? Finns can make Nordic noir with the best of them. (Photo: Elisa Viihde)

“A dedicated space to think, recharge and unwind.” This is how architects Studio Puisto, design company Made by Choice and interiors manufacturer Protos Demos describe their joint effort, a modular wooden cabin called Space of Mind. Wallpaper seems to agree. The magazine gave the Finnish cabin, which is light enough to transport and install even in remote locations, its 2022 Life Enhancer of the Year award. Among the finalists was also another Finnish project, a gardenwear capsule collection designed by Maria Korkeila for Fiskars. (Photo: Facebook / Space of Mind)

Textile waste is a huge global problem, and Finns want to help the world to tackle it. The Fablehti online magazine takes a look at a new textile recycling centre in Paimio, Southwest Finland. The centre can process around 12 million kilos of textile waste annually and turn it into recycled fibre. (Photo: Adobe)

Smartly.io shops in the UK. The Helsinki-based social advertising platform company has acquired Ad-lib.io, a London-based Google advertising firm. The deal, estimated to be worth over 100 million US dollars, is expected to help Smartly.io to expand its offering beyond social media advertisements, writes UK Tech News. (Photo: Facebook/ Smartly.io)