Where Can One Find Housing Reform?
The reform of housing construction often requires completed pioneering buildings. We asked Jyrki Tarpio, a postdoctoral researcher in housing design, to evaluate the apartment buildings presented in the Housing Reform issue (2/2025) that originate from Housing Reform architectural competitions and the City of Helsinki’s Re-Thinking Urban Housing programme.
Cold and Warm
New premises have been built for a university of applied sciences adjacent to an events centre, in the Port of Kantasatama in Kotka.
Bridge of Changing Values
The bridge designed by landscape architecture office Maanlumo creates a new urban space through the synergy of change and preservation.
And Then There Was White
With the completion of the new office and hotel building, the dominance of red brick on the Katajanokka waterfront gives way to white.
Spirit of the 1980s
The premises of the Supreme Administrative Court have been updated to meet current needs, but the 1980s atmosphere is also very much present.
Three Little Coloured Blocks
Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo The Kirjailijakortteli city block, located in Helsinki’s Meilahti district, is comprised of three residential buildings that play with colours and materials. Located in the centre of three streets, Mannerheiminite, Topeliuksenkatu and Stenbäckinkatu, there is a wedge-shaped plot.
A First Step in Housing
Photo: Mika Huisman The student apartments in Korttelikylä are spacious, light-filled and well-functioning. Student housing is often associated with images of ghettos and social problems due to the high concentration of residents and a socioeconomic homogeneity.
Skilfully Efficient
The efficient use of space in the new Lamminrahka School Centre does not take away from the utility and natural light in the spaces.
Time Traveling
In the recent renovation of the Finnish National Theatre’s Small Stage there is no appreciable distinction between the materials of different ages or the temporal layers, but rather a theatre visit takes you back to the 1950s.