HELSINKI

SCALES — L/S – Urban / Architectural LOCATION — Helsinki Laajasalo POPULATION — City 630,000 inhab. STRATEGIC SITE — 50 ha / PROJECT SITE — 12 ha SITE PROPOSED BY — Helsinki City Planning Department OWNER OF THE SITE — City of Helsinki and other site owners POST-COMPETITION PHASE — Post-competition seminar with site representatives, selection of one winning team for an implementation process

Anri Linden — architect SAFA, office manager, Eastern office, City Planning Department of Helsinki

1. WHAT ARE THE GOALS OF THE SITE MUTATION? The main goal in Laajasalo is to convert the existing motorway into an urban boulevard with urban structure surrounding it on both sides. There will be a considerable amount of new housing and other types of buildings in the area since Helsinki is growing rapidly.

2. HOW CAN THE SITE BE INTEGRATED IN THE ISSUES OF PRODUCTIVE CITIES? HOW DO YOU CONSIDER THE PRODUCTIVITY ISSUE? The new street should become a lively focal point of the area with different functions including retail, offices, workshops etc. The goal is to find a harmonious structure where all these functions work hand in hand with each other, with the new housing and the inhabitants of the area.

3. HAVE YOU ALREADY DEFINED A SPECIFIC PROCESS FOR THE URBAN AND/OR ARCHITECTURAL DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE AFTER EUROPAN? The City of Helsinki will collaborate with the winning team to make detailed plans for the area in the coming years. There is a tramline planned to open in 2026 and the plans should be complete a few years before that.

Lateral Coalescence

HELSINKI (FI) — WINNER

AUTHOR(S) — Lotta Kindberg (FI), Nea Tuominen (FI), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Rachel Murray (NZ), Architect CONTACT — Komitea Architects, Helsinki (FI) T. +358 407680878, hello@komiteark.fi, www.komiteark.fi

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The project deals with the expansion of Helsinki city towards the Eastern suburban area of Laajasalo Island, transforming the existing highway into a new urban boulevard. The site is home to a delicate wetland harbour, pine forest to the West, and existing town amenities in the East. How to meet the required density allocation for Laajasalo, without disturbing the natural environment? Our strategy was to reconcile urbanism and nature; using the landscape to direct our design, while in turn using density and productive activity to bring people closer to the landscape. The result is an intensified mixed-use urban boulevard intersected by a shared street in the East-West direction, connecting the city with the sea and the forest. This axis forms a secondary spine for a new artificial island and marina-view residential area. The forest, wetland edge and harbour pier are preserved, ensuring that the new urban landscape remains distinctive to Laajasalo.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The proposal is based on an insightful identification of the existing characteristics and conditions offered by the site. It includes elements such as a busy traffic corridor, a dormant island suburb, architecturally and historically significant buildings, a 100-year-old copse of pine trees and a quiet bay. The urban fabric is based on making good use of these elements and their perimeter interfaces. The proposal is one of the best entries in striking a balance between the type of boulevard, the natural assets, the nucleus of the new local centre and the link to the sea.

HARBOUR ISLAND EDGE

WEST LAAJASALONTIE BOULEVARD EDGE

MARKET HALL, SQUARE AND TERRACE

AUTHOR(S) — Jari Lonka (FI), Antti Mentula (FI), Architects CONTRIBUTOR(S) — Julio Orduña Sánchez (FI/MX), Matías Celayes (FI/AR), 3D designers CONTACT — L Architects ltd. jari.lonka@l-ark.fi, www.l-ark.fi, www.facebook.com/larkkitehdit/ www.instagram.com/l_architects/, @LonkaJari

Waterfront Twist

HELSINKI (FI) — RUNNER-UP

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — The plan creates a vibrant urban boulevard with a strong connection to the sea. Its designed solutions and functional strategies can be applied well beyond the Laajasalo site. At the central part of the area, the East-West placement and the gradually rising heights of the buildings allow long views towards the sea. A small coordinate twist in the urban grid creates a connecting axis from the sea to the boulevard. The longitudinal housing typologies, on the Northern and Southern parts of the area, adapt to various urban contexts and terrain conditions. The “Boulevard modularity” housing system allows the creation of multiple housing combinations for multiple dwellers. The “Urban Synergy” principle offers a strategic solution for productive use of the Ground and First floors near the boulevard.

JURY POINT OF VIEW — The overall plan presented in the proposal is well balanced. The boulevard is perceived as a compact urban space flanked by buildings. The block models have been skilfully fitted into the location. The blocks are successfully sequenced based on the surrounding urban tissue. Access to the sea is provided to link the local centre to the bay. The price to be paid for this is that rock needs to be cut from the hill, but the benefits outweigh the losses. The proposal is also carefully thought out and sure-footed in terms of traffic arrangements.

AUTHOR(S) — Laura Martínez (ES), Paula Fernández (ES), Architects; Wojciech Kębłowski (PL), Geographer; Aníbal Hernández (ES), Anthropologist CONTACT — Ciudad Taller ci.ta.europan@gmail.com www.ciudadtaller.weebly.com

TEAM POINT OF VIEW — This project brings production back to the city; production considered as a life centered process whose purpose is to satisfy material and social needs of communities. By expanding the definition of production to embrace activities outside the generation of exchange value, we also unveil the “productive” model of urbanism that may be encouraged, how it may be implemented, and who should be the key agents involved in its development. We delineate three PRINCIPLES as central to making any neighbourhood productive: Embeddedness, Progressivity and Self-Management. These guide open DIRECTIONS for Laajasalo’s transformation: Collectivization, Renaturalization and DeMobilization. They materialize in a system of PLUG-INS that support the transformation of the area.