Kalasatama (literally the fish harbour), Helsinki’s former cargo harbour, is a complete flat man-made area and Englantilaiskallio (the Englishmen cliff) is the only accident remaining in the levelled neighbourhood. What used to be a collection of small islands and, later, a busy trade harbour, is now a boring flat, empty and unattractive area right in the centre of the metropolitan region. Nevertheless, from Englantilaiskallio you can admire one of the finest view over downtown Helsinki.
   Numerous town-planning projects appeared in the last couple of years and the city council recently chose one of them to execute. But this plan strongly lacks an essential site-specific vision. This counter-project “Kalasatama, is there anything remaining from the fish harbour? ” intends to highlight the advantages of the site. It includes an adjustment of the city’s proposed plan that keeps entirely the Englantilaiskallio hill and turns it into an urban park at the heart of the new district. In order to highlight this specific spot, a design for an observation tower, oriented towards the city centre and at the tip of the angle formed by the shoreline is proposed. This tower recalls the industrial past of the area and emphasized the presence of the existing hill.

 

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Automn Term 2009

TaiK / Aalto University Helsinki, FI

Teacher: Pentti Kareoja