Helsinki

1997-2000

Slicing canyons / Coupling connections

Vuotalo Cultural Centre is a part of a network of suburban cultural centres around Helsinki. The building houses a library and facilities for music and other arts as well as a stage for theatre and dance performances.

Vuosaari has become one of the new growth extensions of Helsinki, with already almost 40,000 inhabitants; the population is represented by all social groups, and a large part of the inhabitants have come from elsewhere in Finland and there is also a significant number of foreign immigrants.

The basic design solution of the Centre resembles a hinge, where multi-level functional and traffic connections are integrated. The building opens out along its entire length towards a pedestrian route while turning its back against a busy bus traffic artery. All the activities of the building are visible at a glance behind the 2-storey glazed main facade. The rear side, on the other hand, is covered with stainless steel chain-link conveyor belt normally used in the processing industry, which, depending on lighting and the angle of view, appears to cover the facade behind it in a silvery armour or scales of a salmon – or turns it completely transparent.

In the building mass, which is deep due to its half-circle plan shape, two glass-covered 'canyons' have been sliced. It is via these that natural light enters into the centre of the building, and together with the entrance gallery, they create spatial variation in the otherwise even height landscape, as well as bringing together the library and the art studios above it into one ensemble. The overlapping spatial structure of the building creates surprising internal views, and at its best it can cross-connect the users and functions in unexpected ways.

As a contrast to the metallic exterior, the interior of the library is mainly wood. The floor is finished in heat-treated and oiled birch and the walls of the 'canyons' are comprised of a pine trellis that frame the views into the classrooms, but at the same time create the image of a classical library with its endlessly continuing walls.

Art works were commissioned from artists Jaakko Tornberg and Pekka Syrjä, to be placed at the end of the 'canyons'.

Planting is also an essential part of the architecture. When arriving from the north, one walks through a labyrinth of bushes arranged in even rows and the recessed yard contains Swedish whitebeams planted in a grid, the foliage of which will as time passes form a green cloud completing the territory of the building to form a circle.