The Lithuanian architectural office AFTER PARTY wins the 1st prize of the Turku Linnanniemi Area International Competition with its project submission for the redesign of the area around the medieval castle of Turku, which has been preserved until today and is located in the middle of the harbour traffic. The project is to be carried out in several phases, with the first phase to be completed in 2029, the 800th anniversary of Turku, and the entire master plan to be completed in 2049.
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Turku is a city and former capital on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. Linnanniemi – a gateway of Turku, squeezed between the city and one of the most prolific archipelago‘s in the world marks the point where both conditions should meet. Situated mostly on a land that was once the sea, the area of natural setting to the medieval castle turned into a grey territory for industry and transportation. This transformation left the area not only as just a transfer point but also vulnerable to the future posed threats of climate change.
Only by reintroducing nature as part of the story for Linnanniemi it can become the link connecting to the vast archipelago. At the same time extending the city programs to complement the impressive heritage will make the area a destination for its residents and tourists joining the city and the archipelago into a united narrative for the future of Turku. AFTER PARTY collaborated on this project with traffic consultants Sitowise and Finnish architect Santtu Hyvarinen./
Three Characters of Turku
The area of the masterplan comprises three strong themes: historical background with the medieval Turku castle, the Aura riverfront of vibrant, growing city and a busy harbour welcoming many visitors throughout the year. These three themes shape the three distinct characteristic zones of the area – as if three puzzle pieces interlocking together to link the city to the hundreds of islets around.
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Castle Park
By surrounding the existing castle park with a necklace of green public spaces, the park is stretched all the way to the waterfront, extending the two green corridors of the decommissioned railway line and the new development to the North, becoming a green backbone to the area. The expanded park gives back Turku castle the promi-nence it deserves, becomes the culmination of a densely populated surrounding areas, and at the same time naturally adapts to the climate risks of the future.
In order to expand the Castle Park, the program is efficiently densified in the neighbouring areas and spread through the masterplan allocating the majority of residential at the Maritime Neighbourhood while dedicating the Western part for office, hotel and services. The castle is surrounded by the necklace of public and active commercial functions.
Maritime Neighbourhood
The Maritime Neighbourhood to the East mixes living with city programs and Forum Marinum functions extending the vibrant riverfront to a shared zone for local community and city visitors.
Harbour City
Lastly the Western tip of the masterplan is dedicated to the active Harbour City which besides ensuring the efficient and diversified city and archipelago connections, also combines variety of services, turning the area from a transfer point into a destination – a true gateway of Turku with sustainability and innovation at its core.
Public Loop
The three zones are joined together through a sequence of diverse public spaces with the most prominent anchor functions attached, creating a loop of exuberant experience throughout the area. By introducing the new water connections the existing loops of the city are linked to the scenic archipelago, making Linnaniemi the place where city meets the sea.
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Diverse Water Connections and fighting Flood Risk
The optimised vehicle traffic system allows for most of the area to be freed from cars and become pedestrian friendly public space prioritising soft mobility and public transportation. The introduction of diverse water connections throughout the masterplan creates strong links to the archipelago with the culmination at the Harbour City where Ferry terminal and Water transport hub is located.
The flood risk for the low lying area of the masterplan is tackled with two main measures: creating a barrier from the sea at the waterfront edge by elevating the whole ground floor level of the buildings or introducing a raised border.
More frequent storms caused by climate change poses another flood risk. The intensified green spaces and landscape ponds of the park helps to absorb excess rainwater. While the central Harbour City water axis acts as a continuous open gutter and water storage system.
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Text Credits: AFTER PARTY.
The Local Reference Plan for the Riihimäki Station Area of a multidisciplinary team of Finnish architecture and planning offices brings together disparate and detached neighborhoods separated by a bisecting railway line. The plan reconciles different socio-economic conditions to create a more egalitarian society in keeping with Finnish values.
The Local Reference Plan for the Riihimäki Station Area was published by the city of Riihimäki on 25th August 2020. The plan includes land use, traffic planning and detailed master planning for an area of 80 hectares, which is home to 5000 inhabitants. The multidisciplinary team consisted of Arkkitehdit LSV, Jolma Architects, TUPA architecture, Nomaji maisema-arkkitehdit and Ramboll Finland. The plan is to bring together disparate and remote neighborhoods separated by a bisecting railroad line and covers three plan areas: the historic core, and the two districts of Jokikylä and Peltosaari. The Local Reference Plan is an approved supplementary planning document that is based on the adopted Master Plan which was also completed by the same design team.
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The historic core
A vibrant downtown area has been created around the refurbished historical train sheds, train station, and the travel center. The historical buildings are very well preserved and should be accessible for new forms of use. An important aspect for the planners are sufficient transport connections including the change to sustainable modes of transport: The traffic junctions are integrated into the public open space, where the higher hotel and office buildings act as landmarks. The planners took into account the historical environment of the existing buildings when scaling the proposed buildings and choosing complementary materials. City center functions of mixed-use housing, retail, entertainment and offices bring vibrancy to the downtown area. The transformation of Eteläinen Asemakatu into a vibrant green street, which also provides ecosystem services of rainwater management and amelioration, creates a pleasant environment for walking.
Jokikylä
The character of Jokikylä’s townscape is determined by the proximity of nature, which is found in the lush meadow and shore vegetation of the Vantaanjoki River. The river design serves as a flood protection and at the same time provides a comfort value in the flooded meadows. The river bed and the habitats along the river banks have also been diversified to create a better habitat for wildlife. The low two to five-story buildings and their arrangement create an intimate, village-like character that surrounds the central park. The parking lots are located along the railroad line and provide an acoustic barrier that creates a peaceful environment in the village of Jokikylä.
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Peltosaari
Infill and new development in Peltosaari supports and improves the existing built assets with new residential and service buildings, creating a service center that serves people of all backgrounds. The area is well connected by the main pedestrian and bicycle network as well as by public transport and car routes. The central main square is directly connected to the railroad underpass and the multi-purpose building, thus enlivening access to the city center through public art. The different heights of the buildings ensure that sufficient sunlight penetrates to the street level. The tallest buildings are located along the trackside to provide acoustic buffering for the rest of the development. The blue and green infrastructure in the area, especially the proposed Karlskogan Puisto Park, will significantly improve the amenity value of the area while providing much needed flood protection.
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Text Credits: Jolma Architects
First inaugurated in 1938, the Helsinki Olympic Stadium reopened last month after an extensive modernisation and rebuild. While the four-year renovation project was carried out with great respect towards the Stadium’s original modernist architecture, new functionalities have been added and comfort and safety have been increased to match the demands of the future.
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In the early noughties, the future looked uncertain for the Helsinki Olympic Stadium. The arena was in poor condition and no longer met the standards for an events venue. Although the cost estimate showed a figure that would buy you a new arena, the “Nordic capital of cool” decided to appreciate the old and invest in rebuilding and refurbishing the Olympic Stadium. Now, the Stadium is a place where the past and the future meet, and old and new elements blend seamlessly.
A national monument and symbol of independence from the 1930s
The Helsinki Olympic Stadium is not only a landmark central to the Helsinki cityscape but also a building of significant national relevance. For many Finns, the combination of pure functionalist architecture of the 1930s and the external appearance of the 1952 Helsinki Olympics symbolises the dawn of a new era for the young nation. Having declared independence only twenty years prior to the inauguration of the Stadium on 12 June 1938, Finland was already preparing to host the Olympics in 1940. The breakout of the Second World War postponed the Olympics, which were ultimately held in summer 1952.
Perhaps the most beautiful Olympic Stadium in the world, the arena is a result of an architectural competition held in the 1930s, won by the Finnish architects Yrjö Lindegren (1900–1952) and Toivo Jäntti (1900–1975) who submitted a proposal in pure functionalist style. The original architecture aimed at practicality, functionality, and rationality.
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Finnish modernism meets new standards
While the Stadium has been renovated with great respect towards the original architecture, it has also undergone great changes to meet the 21st century standards for a multipurpose arena. The Stadium is now more comfortable, more accessible, and more functional while remaining instantly recognisable. The entire Stadium premises as well as the stands, pitch and tracks have been modernised. Moreover, another stadium has been built underground: 20,000 square metres of new underground space doubles the amount of warm indoor space at the Stadium. Smart and versatile sports facilities, a tunnel following the tracks above, a logistics area and a multipurpose hall constitute a completely new part of the Olympic Stadium.
The Stadium’s external architecture of 2020 combines the restored 1930s concrete architecture and the renovated parts of the 1950s with a new North stadium square, where food and beverage kiosks in concrete serve audiences. The various elements make up a familiar and recognisable monument in human dimensions. The materials in old and new parts of the whole are timeless and durable: white concrete, brick, wood, and glass.
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Even for taller eventgoers
The renewed wood cover of the façades, made of Finnish spruce and pine timber, conceals new rain shelter structures above the stands. The use of wood harks back to the 1950s, when wood was used to extend the concrete-structured Stadium to reach its current appearance. Wood provides the audience stands with a tactile material and texture with minute scale. To ensure audience safety, the cover of the rain shelter is in fireproofed wood. The composition of the 36,300 new wood composite seats, made nearby in Salo, Southern Finland, is also fire-resistant. The new seats are more comfortable even for taller eventgoers. In concerts, the Stadium can host up to 50,000 guests.
The plastered façades, their visible concrete structures and the brickwork in the curves have been restored to their original look. The new entrances to the stands, with the concrete stairs poured in place, have been adapted to meet the rhythm of the concrete structure curves and brickwork façades. Thanks to new emergency exits, the Stadium can now be emptied in just 8 minutes.
The details in the façade steel parts have been restored and the steel metal flashing has been made according to the original drawings. The original frames and sashes of the steel and wooden windows have been restored while the glass sheets are new and more energy efficient.
“The Olympic Stadium was built for action, and it has a wide range of different user groups.”
The architectural design is by the consortium K2S and NRT in cooperation with Swedish architecture collective White Arkitekten and Wessel de Jonge from the Netherlands. “The Olympic Stadium was built for action, and it has a wide range of different user groups. The Stadium offers a frame for all this action. As architects, we had to listen to representatives of all the different user groups, learn about their needs, and fit them together in a way that allows the Stadium to serve all users with as little changes as possible – all the while maintaining an architecturally harmonious, experiential stadium”, explains architect Kimmo Lintula from architecture office K2S.
A venue for world-class events
The facilities in the 1930s part of the Stadium now serve as multipurpose space for various events, and the functional clarity of interior spaces has been restored. Many improvements have been made to maximise audience comfort and accessibility: For example, the number of restrooms has been grown from 248 to 600, and the number of sales stands is now manifold. Left outside the scope of the renovation, the Stadium tower offers fantastic views over the city from 72 metres above ground.
The Olympic Stadium will celebrate its opening weeks in September 2020.
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Text credit: Marketing and Communication Olympic Stadium Helsinki
Alvar Aalto’s Cultivated Landscapes is an exhibition co-produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Alvar Aalto Foundation looking at previously unexplored aspects of the famous architect’s work. The exhibition, which runs from 25 September 2019 to 12 April 2020, is highlighting how Alvar Aalto’s architecture connects with landscape.
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As for the Finnish landscape, I have always been immersed in it. When I began to appreciate the balance and harmony it exudes, I also began to understand how we humans should treat out natural surroundings. – Alvar Aalto, 1972 –
Landscapes form an inseparable part of Alvar Aalto’s (1898–1976) architecture. He viewed them through the lens of an architect, in terms of how they could be reshaped and refined. He began his design process by considering the spirit of the place, both as a physical location and as a site of social interaction. Aalto treated the building’s surroundings as an extension of the interior, just as he viewed the site itself from a broader, landscape-focused perspective. Here he possessed deep insight, masterfully designing everything from small-scale gardens to large-scale landscaping projects.
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The new exhibition opening at the Museum of Finnish Architecture looks at Aalto’s relationship with the landscape – how he experienced it, and how he sought to integrate his architecture with the character of the terrain and vegetation of each site. Various factors influenced the outcome. The university campuses of Otaniemi and Jyväskylä offer a sample of how Aalto expertly wove together older architecture heritage to create something wholly new.
The exhibition takes a comprehensive look at how various features of the landscape influenced Aalto’s design process and his unique way of interpreting and reshaping the surroundings in dialogue with his architecture. With the town centre of Seinäjoki, for instance, he completely transformed the site with bold earthworks and by varying the height of the buildings.
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Amid a growing body of evidence pointing to the important role that nature plays in maintaining health and wellbeing, the presence of nature in urban environments is a highly topical theme of discourse at the moment. Finland’s most famous architect was ahead of his time in advocating green corridors and biophilic design, of which his architecture offers a fine sample.
Mandaworks of Stockholm, in collaboration with Hosper Sweden, has recently been awarded first prize in the international competition for a new mixed-use urban development on the former horse race track Vaasan Raviradan in Vaasa, Finland. The jury unanimously appointed their proposal, ”Inside – Outside,” as the winner out of 63 submitted proposals.Utilizing the site’s location on the southern edge of Vaasa’s city center, the proposal’s starting point is the extension of Carl Axel Setterberg 1860 city plan into the site. Through the extension of the grid, the new development links to the surrounding urban life and forms a robust framework for development. The grid is then further developed by establishing a hierarchy of public spaces, pedestrian diagonal connections, and an activated green structure.
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This tissue of passages and places shape the area’s skeleton into a robust structure that generates a diversity of plot types. This variety invites a mix of building typologies and public spaces to be developed within the neighborhood. Larger plots along the main streets bring commerce and apartments, while the smaller, narrower plots support an array of housing typologies. The mix contributes to the socio-economic diversity and the plan’s flexibility helps Vaasa to grow and adapt in a coherent way.
