Nichtoffener Wettbewerb | 02/2023
The Train Factory in Helsinki (FI)
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio
Gewinner
Architektur, Landschaftsarchitektur
Architektur, Tragwerksplanung
Erläuterungstext
A ROOF FOR HELSINKI
The former electric train building of Pasila machine shop area in Helsinki will be transformed into a 45,000 sqm office, retail, and hotel building and reimagined as a part of the social, commercial, and cultural hub in historical heritage.
The new Train Factory area should be for everyone - a mixed use neighbourhood that accommodates a system of paths, parks, plazas, and open spaces that encourages people to spend more time outdoors, together. A place where there is space for both an active life and a quiet retreat. A new tiny-forest combined with a thriving multi-level public space will become a destination in the city, inviting visitors with a full offering of cultural life, sports, and leisure activities.
The design proposal went above and beyond to materialize an apparently impossible proposal. Opting for an unconventional form permitted a cost-efficient building, suited for everchanging needs. The wood at ground level, part of the Finnish ethos, invites us to move and participate in urban life. The brick is a continuous dialogue with the surroundings. As for the glass top, it dissolves the building into the landscape of Helsinki. This makes these options both evident and irreverent. A rather closed of area can become a new nucleus for urban renewal and reinvention. Reimagining landscape and cityscape as one offers a step forward as we try to reinvent social norms and daily life.
Our vision for the Train Factory will enhance and build upon the rich cultural heritage of the area, which hosts relevant historical buildings and large public spaces. A strategy based on a unique blend of special cultural heritage and forward-thinking solutions, where the ambition is to set an example that contributes to the sustainable aspirations of the municipality and benefits everyone in the city by generating a variety of public spaces that can be used all year around.
Beurteilung durch das Preisgericht
The proposal has the strongest approach in terms of the public realm: a generous, inviting space that gives the most to the public and has the potential to provide a public attraction and a place with an identity. The functions in the podium contribute toward extensive public use, although concerns about the weather remain.
The enclosures of the ground level have been developed into more realistic solution, although the loading bays remain too small. The extensive lobby space must be shown to work for different user groups at the same time. Should the project be developed further special care should be taken to ensure the space created is truly attractive and functions as an essential part of the city.
The Jury welcomed the fact that the updated proposal now has only a single slender tower. The facades have been developed in greater detail addressing some of the concerns raised in the first phase of the competition. Basically, the massing of the project above podium has been reassessed. The Jury welcomed the simplifications here but believed that the massing of the office building can be further improved.
The volumes above the podium are conceived as a composition responding to masses of the neighboring buildings. By treating the external appearance of these volumes as three vertical layers the proposal feels distinctly lighter, but however the uppermost office volume remains too bulky. A positive addition is the opening through the office building, which gives a glimpse of the Cathedral Space gable end from the street side, although it is not clear if this can be seen from pedestrian level. The proportions of the tower are good, and the office floor plates are commercially sensible. The depths of the floor plates have been carefully controlled throughout. The jury were also impressed by the visible lightness of the office and hotel masses and the gap between them when seen from the courtyard. The volumes do not dominate the public realm.
The “Raised Forest’, which is one of the main ideas of the original proposal, has been concentrated and reduced in size. The roof of the podium currently appears expensive to construct, it is anticipated that the superstructure can be further rationalized. Above ground structures must be carefully coordinated with a grid in the basement levels.
The additive nature of the architectural concept allows for the position of structures above the podium to be further optimized.
The presented shadow studies are not accurate, the shadows being shorter than in reality
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio
©MASS lab / AFRY Ark Studio