Head of City Planning wants to cover Helsinki's downtown blocks

Restaurants and shops for the covered courtyards; Tuomas Rajajärvi also wants to revamp the South Harbour

print this

By Riku Jokinen
     
      "Me?" The sound generated by the man lurking behind a massive moustache comes out as half yelp, half cry of utter disbelief.
      Tuomas Rajajärvi, head of Helsinki's City Planning Department, has not heard before that his name was also mentioned in the speculation over the successor to the city's Deputy Mayor Pekka Korpinen. The surprise seems genuine.
     
Rajajärvi did not have the urge to become the new Deputy Mayor responsible for city planning. He does, however, have a clear picture of what is waiting for his future boss.
      "Helsinki's old city centre must become diverse and an enjoyable place to be", he says.
      In practice, Rajajärvi wants the whole of the eastern central districts of Kruunuhaka and Kaartinkaupunki to be used more efficiently. But he would start the work between Aleksanterinkatu and Pohjoisesplanadi, the northern side of the pair of Esplanades running westwards from the South Harbour and the Market Square.
     
The facades of the old buildings will not be touched, but the internal yards of the blocks will be completely revamped.
      "Covered courtyards, underground spaces, arcades", lists Rajajärvi and picks out the courtyards in the Makkaratalo and Kämp blocks (on Keskuskatu and Kluuvikatu respectively) as examples of what he envisages.
      Food markets could be built underground. There could be restaurants, cafés and shops open to the public at the street level and in the covered courtyards.
      These ideas are connected to the city's plans for bringing restaurants and hotels into the Empire style neoclassical city centre at the eastern end of Alekanterikatu, and also to open the lower entrance hall of the City Hall (facing the Market Square) as a public exhibition space.
     
This concept is now being tested out in Lampan Talo ("Lampa House"), the block at the corner of Pohjoisesplanadi and Helenankatu.
      The National Board of Antiquities has finally accepted the idea that it is possible to build a glass roof-canopy over the internal yard of the historically valuable building, as long as the facades inside the courtyard maintain their "outdoor character".
      The hotel entrepreneur intends to construct a reception lobby, a hotel elevator, and a public café in the courtyard.
     
"We can learn from Central Europe. We can hold on to the important things but also let the building live in the present", Rajajärvi muses on the relationship between preservation and real life.
      Rajajärvi's ultimate dream is to join up all the yards in the extended block one with another.
     
Bringing life to the city centre also includes the "Kirjava Satama" project in the South Harbour, which involves improving the Market Square, Old Market Hall, Olympia Ferry Terminal, and the Katajanokka areas just across the water.
      Swiss architect Jacques Herzog is currently designing a hotel in Katajanokka that pays homage to the work of Alvar Aalto, but according to Rajajärvi the whole South Harbour should really be fixed up. For example, the best places in the Market Square itself are currently reserved for parking cars.
      "When people walk with their bags from the Olympia Terminal down to the Market Square, they see a sorry sight."
      He has a point: Helsinki looks splendid when arriving in the South Harbour by sea, but much of the favourable impression dissolves when one steps ashore and sees things up close.
      Rajajärvi says that there are plans to cover the Olympia Terminal and adjacent terminal areas, which would put the trucks and cars out of sight underground. In addition to a pedestrian walkway, there may also be a hotel on top of the covered area.
      "The humans should be located above ground. The vehicles and food stores are best located underground."
     
Helsingin Sanomat / First published in print 17.10.2007

More on this subject:
 BACKGROUND: Focus on the city centre after the harbours

Previously in HS International Edition:
  Section of Mikonkatu in downtown Helsinki to be covered with glass roof (27.4.2007)
  Helsinki plans to brighten up city centre (20.9.2005)

Links:
  Helsinki City Planning Department

RIKU JOKINEN / Helsingin Sanomat
riku.jokinen@hs.fi