Ruoholahti
by Timo LAITINEN
The
West Harbour City Quarter
Helsinki is a maritime city whose harbours are located directly adjacent to
the city centre. During the mid-1980s, the City decided to change harbour
and warehousing areas into residential mixed use. The West Harbour is over
200 hectares in size and is located on the western side of the Helsinki peninsula
within walking distance of the central business district. The West Harbour
area comprises Ruoholahti, Jätkäsaari and Munkkisaari. Ruoholahti
was the first West Harbour area to be rezoned for residential use. Jätkäsaari
presently has both a passenger and cargo terminal. In the 1992 Helsinki Master
Plan, there is a reserve for the construction of a new goods harbour at Vuosaari.
The passenger terminal will remain at Jätkäsaari. As dimensioned
in the Master Plan, the West Harbour is presented as a new maritime city quarter
for more than 22,000 residents, which in turn will enhance the attractiveness
and services of Helsinki's entire city centre.
The centre of Helsinki has three main significant park axes: the Esplanades, Mannerheimintie and Boulevardi, one of these main streets, terminates at Hietalahti, the functional focus of the West Harbour's area. A continuous pedestrian and cycle route running along Helsinki's entire southern shoreline passes through the West Harbour area.
History
The construction
of a cargo harbour began in the year 1913. Gardually all the original islands
in the entire West Harbour's area - Jätkäsaari, Hietasaari, Kellosaari,
Saukko, Salmisaari (formerly also called Tammasaari), Munkkisaari and Hernesaari
- were levelled and connected with landfill for marine, industrial and warehousing
purposes. The memory of these islands is preserved in street names.
At Ruoholahti, the Cable Factory, Alko factory and Salmisaari power plant recall the West Harbour area's previous uses, as do the harbour's brick warehouses and office buildings at Jätkäsaari, and Munkkisaari's former grain storages, Ford office building and shipbuilding sheds.
Ruoholahti
Ruoholahti's buildings form urban blocks defining public spaces: the canal,
parks, streets and squares. Ruoholahti's public environment has received many
prizes, including the international award of recognition granted by the Waterfront
Center in 1996.
Residential blocks are five to seven storeys high. Two eight-storey apartment towers stand at the terminus of the Ruoholahti Canal. For the Saukonpaasi area at Ruoholahti's southwest corner, the town plan proposes a large concentration of terrace and high-rise buildings, deviating from the surrounding block structure, that would frame the central park area as well as open up sea views to as many apartments as possible. The construction of the Saukonpaasi area can begin following the decision to build the Vuosaari harbour.
Office and commercial buildings are primarily six to eight floors in height and are placed near the Ruoholahti Metro station. Town planning enables the construction of up-to-date and functional office spaces from the standpoint of connections, environmental awareness, service quality and flexibility.
One town planning competition, eight building design competitions and one environmental art competition have been held in Ruoholahti.
Services
Ruoholahti's public transport connections are excellent: the Helsinki Metro,
two tramlines and numerous bus routes. Commercial services are for the most
part located near the Metro station at the Ruoholahti shopping area, and in
the future, at Alka's Porkkalatalo complex. Residential blocks also contain
shops at street level. Besides the lower stage comprehensive school, sports
facilities include a gymnasium, fitness and exercise spaces and 25-metre swimming
pool.
Culture
Art is prominently featured at Ruoholahti in many ways. Nokia's former Cable
Factory, now a cultural centre owned by the City of Helsinki, has within a
short time, become a pulsating and dynamic scene for artistic and cultural
activities. With its floor area, the Cable Factory is one of Europe's largest
industrial buildings used for cultural purposes. Ruoholahti has two lower
comprehensive schools, emphasising fine arts and information technology respectively.
Additionally, Helsinki's International School is situated in Ruoholahti.
(source: Helsinki City Planning Department, Ruoholahti-Jätkäsaari-Munkkisaari
project)
(October 2000)