The Mill: A Boater's Rest Stop by Rintala Eggertsson Architects
by Lloyd Alter, Toronto 
on 12.16.08
If you have ever taken a long canoe or kayak trip you will recognize this as a lovely idea- a beautiful, covered rest stop, perhaps with a little electricity to charge up the camera. And of course in Finland they take design seriously and have not forgotten the heritage of Aalto.
Designboom writes:
On the Halikko river in Finland, Rintala Eggertsson Architects have constructed 'the mill'.
originally a proposal for green art, an ecological landscape art exhibition in Finland,
'the mill' is a shelter for kayak paddlers located on each side of the river bank which in southwest Finland. In the river's central stream, a mill collects energy that is generated from the river's current. The project was done in collaboration with Janne Saario, a student of architecture in helsinki.
I cannot tell if it was ever built, but suspect that if the paddlewheel was built like the one in the model it isn't going to generate a whole lot of electricity. Nice to look at though.
Rintala Eggertsson Architects via Designboom
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How much electricity do you need there? You need to charge a camera or a cellphone, and run some 12v LED lighting.
--Jim R
this is a neat idea.
from the looks of it, I think that the paddlewheel in the middle will be pretty much useless. the archdesign will cause so much turbulance in the water to be effective.
A shelter for kayakers? what's the point? they are kayaking, they are likely to get a little bit wet anyway! Surely they'd rather stop on the side of a natural river bank or undersome trees, rather than something that looks vaguely like a bus-shelter.
That would be cool if it was a stop where you could relax and smoke some Finlandish ganja in the midst of your kayak ride...
that water weel is plentitfull....
Thousands of waterweels like this has been used to grind meal, sawing timber etc for centuries here in skandinavia.
..so some LED lamps, chargers for portable electronics and a wifi-spot should not be of any problem even if the river runs slowly. Thats why the gear was invented :)
nice work!
An un-green, pointless bit of urban clutter in the countryside. Imagine the montage without the structures. Is the landscape better or worse?
The water wheel design is flawed. The design is aggressively urban. Why would you celebrate this design for a pure natural setting?