LAAVU is a multi-disciplinary architecture and urban design practice rooted in city-building.

APPROACH

We don’t wait for change to happen. We’ve developed a nimble design approach that initiates change by responding to the city’s challenges with meaningful architecture, innovative urban concepts, and cultural relevance. We confront existing physical and regulatory constraints with intuitive solutions that are as functional as they are aesthetically satisfying.

Laavu’s foundation is rooted in the localized resourcefulness and community-driven energy of Detroit, where our ethos of inclusive, equitable, and responsive design took shape. We continue to build on those values—infusing our work with the layered realities of urban life while drawing from global influences.

Our practice works fluidly across urban scales, connecting city systems with community needs. We’ve improved neighborhoods by developing robust yet sensitive design principles that navigate the often disparate assumptions held by city agencies, developers, clients, and user groups. We believe that cities are physical manifestations of human activity, and our work strives to create spaces that inform, inspire, and enliven the citizens who use them. The future of urban life lies in collaboration—between residents, community organizers, entrepreneurs, investors, and culture-bearers—and our role is to foster these connections through thoughtful, grounded design.

WHO WE ARE:

KAIJA WUOLLET

Founder, Principal

Kaija founded Laavu in 2010 with a vision rooted in city-building—driven by creative, multidisciplinary collaboration and a commitment to design quality. Her city-forward approach, with an emphasis on careful craftsmanship and thoughtful design, strives to improve everyday life. At Laavu, Kaija draws out her team’s unique abilities through effective communication and a rigorous design process. She has extensive experience leading diverse teams and coordinating complex consultant networks across projects of varying scale.

Kaija brings design leadership that spans architecture, interiors, urban design, and planning. Drawing from her Finnish heritage and deep connection to nature and craft, she brings a humanist lens to the design of objects, spaces, and cities.

She remains closely connected to Detroit’s entrepreneurial energy—as co-founder and Board Member of Ponyride, through her service on the Board of the Corktown Business Association, and via ongoing collaborations with developers, artists, and community organizers. These relationships have helped realize Laavu’s city-building mission across a wide range of scales—from furniture to buildings to entire neighborhoods.

NOAH RESNICK Principal

Noah joined Laavu in 2016.

Noah’s 15+ years of research in the area of urban theory and history -initially as a graduate student at MIT, and now as the director of the graduate architecture program at the University of Detroit Mercy - parallels the central themes at the root of these Detroit based projects, and directly informs his professional design practice.

This research currently focuses on development along disinvested commercial and transit corridors and the role of establishing a positive urban identity to secure a successful public realm. On the architectural scale, Noah has extensive experience on the job site, leading construction administration for projects in New York City and Detroit.

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We provide full-service pre-development, architecture, interior architecture services.

PRE-DEVELOPMENT: we assist developers/building owners in creating strategic framework plans to develop sustainable, city-building projects.

ARCHITECTURE : we guide owners through the design process, providing thoughtful, quality designs, making effective, memorable and unique places for people.

INTERIOR ARCHITECTURE : we design interior spaces, elements, flow and objects, envisioning the end-user experience

TEAM : 2011- 2019

WHAT IS A LAAVU?

Laavu is a traditional, ethnic lean-to shelter intended for temporary residence during hiking trips in the wilderness. In Finland they are found throughout Lapland, near national parks and fishing spots, and are free to use by visitors. In our design work, we find deep inspiration in the natural environment. As in the Finnish tradition, wilderness can provide the most intimate and enriching human experience.

Photos by EE BERGER