Rich architectural layers
Helsinki is largely synonymous to high-quality architecture. The city is an open design studio and a work in progress. Helsinki is equally rich for architects as it is for enthusiasts and the uninitiated.
Helsinki is home to an impressive concentration of 18th to 21st century architectural styles in an accessible, compact area.
Architectural styles
Some of the main symbols of Helsinki, the Senate Square and its surrounding neoclassical buildings by Berlin architect Carl Ludwig Engel date back to the early 19th century and evoke the then-capital St. Petersburg.
Other key styles in Helsinki are Art Nouveau, functionalism and modernism. Many Art Nouveau buildings in Helsinki embrace the Finnish National Romantic ideals of the turn of the 20th century. More than any other styles, Helsinki has been shaped by functionalism and modernism since the 1930’s.
Icons of architecture
One of the many icons among Finnish architects is Eliel Saarinen, who has left the biggest mark on Helsinki since Carl Ludwig Engel. Saarinen designed a number of residential buildings and the monumental Helsinki Railway Station, and he prepared many city plans which still influence the development of Helsinki. Saarinen worked with two partners in the early phases of his career, Herman Gesellius and Armas Lindgren.
Eliel’s son Eero Saarinen spent his childhood in Finland. While Eliel shaped the early-19th-century Finnish cityscape, Eero created many architectural icons in the United States in the 1950’s and 1960’s. These include the “Gateway Arch” Jefferson National Expansion Memorial in St. Louis, Missouri, the futuristic General Motors Technical Center in Warren, Michigan, the Trans World Airlines Terminal at the New York International (now John F. Kennedy International) Airport, and the U.S. embassies in London and Oslo.
The internationally famed modern Finnish architect Alvar Aalto lived and worked in Helsinki. He designed many buildings for the city including Finlandia Hall, Sähkötalo (the headquarters building of the Helsinki energy company), and Kulttuuritalo (House of Culture).
Future Helsinki
The future has a great deal in store for architectural Helsinki. Helsinki has vacated large inner-city sites from former commercial port operations for new uses. These sites will open vast new opportunities for contemporary architecture. They include Kalasatama, West Harbour and Central Pasila.
At the same time, the downtown area adjacent to the Parliament building and Finlandia Hall is undergoing a transformation into a cultural oasis, with a new Music Centre in its core. The Music Centre, slated for completion in 2011, will be both a concert hall and an open citizens’ living room.
