The city of Helsinki will announce on Thursday which proposal will win the Makasiinranta quality and concept competition organized by the city. The area is familiar to many from the Old Market Hall and the Swedish ships.
Helsinki’s Makasiinranta is the strip between Laivasillankatu and the sea, which starts from Kauppatori and ends on the south side of Olympic Terminal. The Guggenheim Helsinki art museum was arranged for the same area. The plan failed in the Helsinki City Council in 2016.
Now, along with other construction, a new architecture and design museum is being planned for the area, for which a construction decision has not yet been made.
What makes the area special is that it is part of the national landscape. It is also largely a nationally significant cultural environment.
Here are the nominees.
Water god
The Åland bank Ålandsbanken is behind the plan called Ahti. The main designers are two architectural offices: Architects Tommila and Architects Rudanko
Boardwalk
The Finnish real estate development company Aalto Development is behind the proposal called Boardwalk. The successful Lahdelma Architects Office has been harnessed for the design
Armlet
Warehouse promenade
The main designer is Anttinen-Oiva architects, known for the main library of the University of Helsinki in the Kaisa building.
Islands
The Nordic real estate investment company Niam and the private equity fund company Taaleri are behind the Saaret proposal. The designers are two architectural offices: K2S is known for the wooden chapel in Kamppi. White Architects, on the other hand, is one of the leading architectural offices in the Nordics, which has designed the new cultural center (Sara) in Skellefteå in Sweden. The site won the international press wood architecture award in 2022.
The Makasiinranta competition is therefore not a general architecture competition, but the architectural offices are part of a whole, which is led by real estate investors and construction companies.
*Which proposal should win? You can discuss the topic on 24.11. until 11 p.m.*
The proposals have been criticized. Listen to Kulttuuriykkönen’s discussion on the topic here: