I just read in the Helsingin Sanomat that the Armi Centre in Helsinki is to be cancelled. It would have acted as a focal point, at least for tourists anyway, of Finnish Design Culture right in the centre of Helsinki. Some of the key clients pulled out of the project, and when your clients no longer have need for the proposed building immediate cancellation was inevitable I guess. JKMM won the competition with a really nice if a little reserved entry, which will now never see the light of day. Helsingin Sanomat published another article at the same time questioning why Helsinki doesn’t have an iconic building a la the Bilbao Guggenheim and asking whether now is the time to acquire one. But we should tread carefully, Iconic buildings are harder to design than you think, and I think that many of the great cities of the world are so because of their wider urban qualities rather than one single building, I’m thinking Barcelona, Paris, Amsterdam, New York, even Bilbao fits in here. Whatever the merits of this particular project were this site is perfect for a high profile building of some sort.
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Beatriz Plaza, a professor of economics from the Bask Country University in Bilbao, wrote a very good opinion piece in fridays HS (couldn’t find it online) about the change in Bilbao and what Helsinki could learn from it.
The piece emphasized the size of the change and investment in Bilbao, it was far bigger than just the “iconic” museum that has taken all the glory. She also notes that Helsinki doesn’t have similar problems that Bilbao was struggling with… The benefits of an iconic building in Helsinki wouldn’t be as obvious in Helsinki.
Never the less, it’s sad to see Armi building to be buried, hopefully the co-operation between design and architecture still continues. After all, there has been (unofficial) talks about uniting the Design Museum and the Museum of Architecture by building an extension between them…
Thanks for the contribution Jukka, and I am looking forward to your relaunched website. Yes I think that since they share the same block and revolve around similar subject matter the Architecture and Design Museum could and should colaborate on some sort of expanded or additional shared facility. It would be great to see an open international competition for this.
It sounds like Beatriz Plaza and me are in general agreement. I think its more important that Helsinki Planning Department get the new expansion of the city in the old dock area right, than getting hung up on one iconic building.
lewism said:
Thanks. I’m currently fiddling around with the layout and content for the site (photos and such). The idea is to make it “deeper” and less daily-ramblings like.
I agree. The two museums are now literaly back to back, when they should meet eye to eye.
The Vallila train yards is another place where the Planning Department should certainly be more active. The competition organized for the housing in the area was a success, but YIT has since (at least so I hear) watered the design down. Also the south end of the area has been planned for offices only. Isn’t there enough empty office space in Helsinki already? Why go and ruin a perfect place to build something meaningfull with very generic office buildings?
Jukka said:
I would like to go towards both sides, collect really short posts or links to things I think are relevant and interesting for this blog (not acted out yet) and on the other hand longer posts. Either way since I don’t speak or read Finnish yet I’m looking forward to finding out more anbout the local scene through your site.
As for Vallila, is that the scheme by mechanoo?
lewism said:
I will have my del.icio.us links there and I try to comment on them shortly in the description, but less daily “I washed my hair and shaved today” stuff. More involved commenting on current developments… I’ve been reading a lot of Adorno these days
Same site. They hired Arkkitehtitoimisto Nurmela, Raimoranta, Tasa based on a closed competition to design some of the apartment buildings, Mecanoo was “invited as a design consultant” for the area. No idea what that role actually contains. Currently it seems that the office buildings in the south will be very generic.
Hopefully this will not be the case and I’m mistaken.