KONTULA CITY CENTER

Location: Helsinki, Finland

Year: 2020 –

Status: Competition. 1st prize. Ongoing.

Program: Urban redevelopment plan for the center of Kontula

Client: City of Helsinki, several property owners

Area: 88 400 m2

The City of Helsinki, in collaboration with several proprietors of the area, organized an invited urban planning and architecture competition in 2020 to develop a new vision for the Kontula shopping mall and metro center. The purpose of the competition was to identify a concept that directs the masterplanning of the area. The brief called for a considerable addition to the existing building volume within the designated area, containing housing and commercial spaces, as well as public facilities. The proposal laid special emphasis on developing new public outdoor spaces that support pedestrian movement thereby building on the existing sense of community and diversifying the nature of the urban spaces within the area.

The design identified the value of developing the city center as a catalyst for local culture and entrepreneurship. Acknowledgement of the response to human scale in the existing built situation as well as the history of the area’s built environment lead to the implementation of the aforementioned themes in the proposed massing and functional organisation. The proposal provides a solution for the flexible development of the extensive area, that could be implemented in several stages.

OPUS collaborated with Nomaji Landscape Architects and Ramboll with regard to issues concerning landscape, traffic and structural design respectively. The jury, especially, commended the harmonic union of architecture and landscape design.