Façade is a project begun by Sakari Tervo (b. 1985) and Tatu Engeström (b. 1984) in October 2009 at the Roma camp at Kalasatama in Helsinki. Tervo and Engeström built a façade, reflecting the traditional Scandinavian wooden-house aesthetic, around a shed lived in by a Roma woman, concealing the original dwelling.

In autumn 2009, the City of Helsinki removed some of the camp buildings, but the façade structure was left where it was. It has subsequently continued to exist and to change shape at the hands of the camp’s residents.

The City of Helsinki was intending to dismantle the Kalasatama camp once and for all in June 2011. In the absence of a unanimous solution, however, the fate of the camp is still unsettled. Tervo and Engeström were planning to rescue the Façade structure from the demolition work and show it as part of the exhibition in the Cable Gallery. Because Façade is still in Kalasatama, where the Roma people still live, the exhibition contains a documentation installation showing the various stages of the life of Façade.