Four city blocks to be transformed into happening and shopping area

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On Friday a distinct aroma of coffee filled the Jugendsali at Pohjoisesplanadi 19, as Helsinki Information held its farewell party after 24 years of operation in the building.
      The send-off party served as foretaste of what is to become of the space vacated by Helsinki Information and its exhibitions and telephone service.
      As the info services move a couple of blocks away to the lobby of the City Hall, a 140-seat Café Jugend will commence operation in its place in December.
     
Converting the space into a coffee shop is part of the revitalisation project of the city blocks surrounding Helsinki's Kauppatori, the market square beside the South Harbour.
      The city wishes to transform the area between Unioninkatu and Helenankatu into a happening and shopping zone.
      Previously the area’s buildings have mainly served as city offices.
      “At present the city blocks in the area house separate buildings. In the future these buildings would be connected to each other through arcades and passages”, envisions Tuomas Rajajärvi, Director of Planning at Helsinki’s City Planning Department.
     
The plans also have their opponents. Helsinki City Museum as well as the National Board of Antiquities have both expressed their disappointment at turning the Jugendsali into a café.
      The machinery room for the café’s ventilation is to be erected in the block’s inner courtyard, through which customers enter for example the Kluuvi Gallery.
      “The courtyard is a well-thought-out spatial entity. A machinery room in the middle of it would dominate the yard”, reasons Sirkkaliisa Jetsonen from the National Board of Antiquities.
      To an untrained eye, the inner courtyard represents 1960s' concrete architecture at its greyest, but the antiquities people had their wish granted, and the plant will be situated in the basement of the building.
     
Other parts of the vitalisation undertaking are establishing a restaurant in the former Rahatoimisto (City Treasury) assembly hall in May, and the renewal of street lighting in the entire area.
      The project should be completed by 2013.
     
Furthermore, there are plans to erect a hotel at the western end of the Katajanokka headland, and a parking structure along the shoreline road Eteläranta, on top of which the Tähtitorninmäki park could be extended.
      “The aim is to ponder how to maximise the use of the entire area from Mannerheimintie all the way to Katajanokka. The Makkaratalo building is a good example of how to create additional floor space inside without interfering with the exterior of the structure”, Rajajärvi says.
     
For the Kauppatori city quarters about to be revamped, an Internet site will be opened in the early part of this week.
      There residents can put forward their ideas for brightening up the area.
      Simultaneously, a competition is being launched to find a joint name for the four historic city blocks - Elephant, Lion, Rhinoceros, and Dromedary - between the Senate Square and Kauppatori.
      The voting will continue until the 21st of September at www.helsinginleijona.fi


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Head of City Planning wants to cover Helsinki´s downtown blocks (23.10.2007)

Links:
  Helsinki Info, Jugendsali

Helsingin Sanomat