Open House Helsinki is on tomorrow, with some buildings opening up to the public as part of the larger Helsinki Design Week 2007. It could have been a little bigger and more widespread but there are some potentially interesting buildings to visit. The Hotel Katajanokka, a converted Jail for example wets my appetite.
I pretty much am immune to shopping with two exceptions, books and music. Now I think I might need to clarify a bit more, it’s not the love of purchasing a new book or record per say, its the actual physical pleasure of being in a good record or bookshop I’m thinking of. Now I [...]
YIT are building a development with apartment blocks that tentatively step over the water, the Architects are NRT. This is a first in Finland and it looks like a high quality development. As you can see its a quite suburban in character although so central, so it would be interesting to see the results of [...]
Helsinki is moving to the South of Poland by 2071 #
At least if the predictions made by the International Centre for Research on the Environment and Development come true. Something we may have to start to take into account with building design. The triple glazed, highly insulated buildings of Helsinki with large unopenable [...]
I saw the Citywall installation by students at HIIT yesterday which is one of those multi-touch screens hooked up to tagged images of Helsinki from flickr (film). Played around with the photos, the closest I’ll get to a Jeff Han touchscreen for a while I guess. It’s really nice playful installation for the summer, [...]
The city has gone eurovision crazy, and its really taken over the whole centre. My favourite thing is the Saunabus which has been drafted in as part of the celebrations, and while I don’t think Finland will win again, they should get in the top 10. Personally I think this new rock music is [...]
(image from Arkkitehtitoimisto ALA Oy)
ALA just won the design competition for the new urban plan of Hanasaari. As can be seen from the graphic the new housing blocks are going to make a real statement from the sea, with large balconies and an extended wave like form or possibly boat hulls. This development will start [...]
Finnish Designer Timo Niskanen was runner up in a design to design a shelter in a cart. It enables a homeless person to carry around his belongings with him and have somewhere to sleep at night. He got funding and has brought his design onto the streets of Helsinki. It is a great way to [...]
A new international competition for planning Helsinkis’ future has been launched. It’s scope and scale is massive and it’s not often you get the chance to reimagine a Capital city like this. The Competition briefing information alone is a great repository of information about Helsinki and indeed the Baltic. Visit greaterhelsinkivision for details also see [...]
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 [...]
Helsinki is about to go through a massive urban change in the next few years. There are many parts to this, of which a good long article might come in the future, but one of the first ones, will be the introduction of houseboats and pontoon houses into Kaisainiemenlahti and Eläintarhanlahti right in the centre [...]
