The team resulting from the collaboration between MASSLAB and AFRY Ark Studio will develop a new urban landmark for the Pasila machine shop area in Helsinki. The proposal was selected from five submissions in a separate two-stage competition hosted by the Train Factory Group and the City of Helsinki. The former electric train building was transformed into a 45,000-square-meter office, retail, and hotel complex and reimagined as a social, commercial, and cultural hub, upgrading its historical heritage.
Train depot becomes new urban landmark in Helsinki
MASSLAB and AFRY Ark Studio win the competition to redesign the Pasila machine shop area in Helsinki into a new mixed-program building open to the city.
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
Courtesy MASSLAB + AFRY Ark Studio
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- La redazione di Domus
- 10 March 2023
The action on the single building was the catalyst for renewing a larger area through a complete urban redesign, with the 1970's workshop annex serving the inhabitants of the area. The winning proposal seeks to achieve this through a project based on the needs, uses, actions and habits of the local community. The entire street level is organized around an organic vaulted ceiling that invites people in, while from a green platform on the rooftop there is a view of the city.
According to the designers, the choice of an unconventional form made it possible to create a cost-effective building suitable for changing needs. Wood at ground level, a reference to the Finnish ethos, invites us to move around and participate in urban life. Brick is a continuous dialogue with its surroundings. Glass, on the other hand, dissolves the building into the Helsinki landscape.