Pro Nemus Innovation Center

Pro Nemus - For the woods.

Far, far away, deep in a Finnish forest, lies the world’s first next generation bioproduct mill, processing wood and pulp for the products of the future. It uses no fossil fuels, generates excess bioenergy and utilizes 100 per cent of its wood raw material.

It is the largest wood-processing plant in the Northern Hemisphere.

By its side stands the Pro Nemus Innovation Center that provides an experiential cross-section of the life cycle of a forest and the impact of bioeconomy in a world that must increasingly rely on responsible, renewable raw materials.

Pro Nemus is designed as a stage for interactive digital experiences and constructed out of ecological Finnish wood.

It is a new way to learn about Metsä Group’s business, products, innovation and ways of working. Pro Nemus is just as ground breaking as the next-gen bioproduct mill next to it.

A virtual walkthrough of a sustainable commercial forest

Step inside an immersive forest experience to understand how the best raw material grows and learn about sustainable forest management now and in the future.

The experience is presented through natural navigation. By physically interacting with your surroundings you’ll reveal a data layer that is omnipresent. There is not one clear path or linear storyline. The user is free to explore the forest any way they like. Like in real life.

Through interactions like touching a real pine trunk or standing in specific spots, the user can reveal the data layer and explore sustainable forestry.

How Metsä’s products travel around the globe

Metsä’s next-gen bioproduct mill produces a wide variety of different products: from birch pulp to softwood, all the way to tall oil and turpentine.

To further illustrate where these responsible and renewable raw materials are used to create a sustainable future, we designed a 3D globe to visualize their travels around the world.

Users are able to follow the paths of different Metsä products throughout their transport cycle, simply using their fingers on an intuitive touchscreen app. Seeing sustainable material travel through the globe is believing.

A modern twist on a traditional photo booth experience

Digital truly meets analog in this experimental mashup of software and hardware. We harness Apple’s new Depth API using the TrueDepth camera of an iPhone 8 Plus to extract users’ faces off the background. All of this is done dynamically in real time.

These alpha-masked user photos are then composited with Metsä imagery to a double exposure effect.

Finally, the photo is printed out on a professional-grade printer and users get a tangible memento of their Metsä Pro Nemus journey.

Creating a more sustainable future together

Visiting Pro Nemus is really about experiencing the life cycle of a forest. Seeing how trees are harvested, how it’s processed and what eventually becomes of it.

Metsä is constantly looking for new ways to utilise the various bioproducts being created through wood processing: they come up with over 20 000 new ideas annually.

As the final experience of visiting the center, we created an app that allows visitors to suggest and brainstorm their own ideas about future products made out of wood or its byproducts.

Their ideas are visualised as an ever-growing structure that changes based on user input. It’s an engaging and fun way to leave your mark and complete the tour.