BACKGROUND: Was the axeing of the Armi Center in Katajanokka a missed opportunity?
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By Hannu Pöppönen
This spring, the plug was pulled on a project to build something provisionally known as the Armi Center, which was to have served as a shop window for Finnish architecture, design, and building knowhow. It was intended for a waterfront location in a converted warehouse in Katajanokka, close to Helsinki's South Harbour.
The design competition was won by a proposal from JKMM Architects, a Helsinki-based office. The winning entry did not exactly flex its muscles and stand out from the city skyline, but it would nevertheless have been an attractive addition to the former dockland area.
One of the large group of clients, the Finnish Society of Crafts and Design (which administers Design Forum Finland), withdrew from the venture.
In the Society's view, the Armi Center would not have provided space for business operations, and it would have been impossible to expand the building from its original 20,000 square metres if it had gone up.
The Design Museum on Korkeavuorenkatu had announced from the outset that it was not moving: it regarded Katajanokka as too far removed from the immediate downtown area.
The clutch of architecture and design bodies that represent the Armi project are mostly congregated in the so-called "Design District" of the capital, encompassing the blocks east and west of Erottajankatu, at the south end of the main thoroughfare Mannerheimintie.
"The foundations have if anything grown stronger. Design Forum, the Design Museum, and the Alvar Aalto Foundation have joined the Armi Association that is promoting the venture", says Severi Blomstedt, Director of the Museum of Finnish Architecture.
The Design Museum and the Museum of Finnish Architecture are now looking at the idea of expanding onto the site between their two premises, which are at opposite ends of a block on Korkeavuorenkatu and Kasarmikatu.
What both parties have their eye on in the longer term is the nearby former Guards' manège or riding-school building (from 1877), which they would like to see converted to house other architecture, design, and building interests and bodies, so forming a kind of design-cluster.
If Katajanokka is no longer in the frame, might this be a location for a little wow-architecture?
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 4.8.2006
More on this subject:
 "Wow" architecture does not fit comfortably into the Helsinki skyline
Links:
JKMM Architects: Armi
Design Museum
Museum of Finnish Architecture
Alvar Aalto Foundation
HANNU PÖPPÖNEN / Helsingin Sanomat
hannu.popponen@hs.fi
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