Tag Archives: helsinki
Walking the Line
There is an old railway line that leads from the shore to the centre of Helsinki. I remember talking about it while on a little Architectural trip in Helsinki during the summer with some friends. So last autumn when I saw on flickr that vornaskoti had walked it and knew that with the closing in [...]
Posted in Urbanism Also tagged disused, path, railway, underground, urban exploration Leave a comment
View from Stockholm
Johnathan Glancey in a recent article stated that Stockholm and Helsinki are under threat of getting the ‘world class city’ treatment. This of course is a bad thing because it means a kind of internationalized blandness in the pursuit of some imagined advertisers dream. I was just in Stockholm for the first time a couple of [...]
Herzog & DeMeuron Hotel Cancelled
Herzog and DeMeurons’ hotel design for the centre of Helsinki has been rejected. Earlier this month on 3rd April the city council voted against the scheme and it looks like a study of the whole area will take place before another competition is announced. I’m not sure but I’m guessing that that this will probably [...]
Posted in Architecture Also tagged cancelled, herzog&demeuron, hotel, jätkäsaari, south harbour Leave a comment
Michelin 2010
Finland has five restaurants with at least one Michelin Star Luomo, Carma, Demo, Postres, and Chez Dominique with two. Honourable mentions go to Grotesk, Mecca and Solna, all based in Helsinki. (via)
First LEED Building in Scandinavia
The first LEED certified building in Scandinavia is the office Moveres Business Garden in Pitäjänmäki in Helsinki, Finland. By SARC Architects and with the artist Outi Martikainen who designed the custom painted glass facades.
Posted in Architecture Also tagged LEED, office, Outi Martikainen, sarc, scandinavia Leave a comment
Ascending and Descending
The first showing of M.C.Escher in Finland is now at the Amos art gallery. With a film and most of Eschers best loved wood cuttings and prints on show it is a real treat. What I love about Escher is his play with dimensions. He shows with his illusions on the paper the difference between [...]
Longest Sea Bridge
China has just announced it began constructing the world’s longest sea bridge which will be 50km long. It is y shaped in plan and connects China, Hong Kong and Macau. Just for reference there has been much talk in Finland and indeed Estonia about a link between Helsinki and Tallinn, it was in the Helsinki2050 [...]
Helsinki World Design Capitol 2012
So Helsinki won the World Design Capitol 21012 competition today. There is already a website, twitter feed and facebook group to follow such being the norm nowadays. I’m happy but not that surprised that we won as the city is home to a vibrant if small design community and the changes in the city coming [...]
Posted in Architecture Also tagged Aalto university, networked urbanism, world design capitol Leave a comment
New Pasila
Cino Zucchi Architects have updated their masterplan for Pasila redevelopment. It would add up to forty story 160m high skyscrapers to the Helsinki skyline, at the moment the highest buildings are about 100m high. Pasila was planned and built as an expansion of the centre of Helsinki, infact as early as Eliel Saarinens’ masterplan which [...]
Innovations – Architect and Engineer
The Alvar Aalto academy has organised a two day seminar at the Helsinki University of Technology called Innovations Architect and Engineer on 26th and 27th of November. Go here for the programme, and it’s free. (via)
Wasted Space Helsinki
I went to Vaihtolava in Kallio on Wednesday evening to see some talks given by the Hukkatila Group which, inspired by wastedspace.se is looking for their own wasted space in Helsinki to turn into projects, whether it’s urban farming or setting up a cafe. The talkers last night were Antti Möller- Introduction. Otso Lapila from [...]
Subterranea Helsinki
Although a country with few people and plenty of space, Finlands’ capitol city Helsinki being located on a peninsula finds itself constantly constrained by the sea for space. Luckily the city sits above bedrock which is deep and which frequently punctures the ground. So Helsinki increasingly uses its bedrock to tunnel into and create an [...]
Low2No Finalist Videos
A quick update on the low2no competition in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. The finalists’ presentations have been posted on the low2no website. I won’t critisise here except to say they all meet the challenge of the brief in a provoking way, and are all worth watching in their differing styles. c_life : City as a Living Factory [...]
Helsinki Remapped
A wonderful post and map (seen above) from Locating Helsinki about the coast at the centre of Helsinki and how it has changed, and Darren found a list of islands some of them shown on the image above which have disappeared. Another set of large changes are due to take place over the coming years [...]
Jätkäsaari Low2No Competition Winner
The Team of ARUP , Sauerbruch Hutton , Experientia, Galley Eco Capital with their entry ‘c_life – City as living factory of ecology’ have won the Low2No Competition for a block development in Jätkäsaari, Helsinki. It will be Finland’s first Carbon neutral district and the competition was run by Sitra an innovation fund and though [...]
Open House Helsinki 2010