“Baltic Square” is a new office building near the centre of Helsinki in the new town block of Ruoholahti. The building is located at a critical intersection between both the urban structure and local traffic layouts. It is being erected at a position where the main entry to the centre from the west meets the city and where the massive industrial buildings and office blocks of the older part of Ruoholahti are juxtapositioned with the new residential city blocks flanked by a strip of new office buildings. In the master plan this point has been emphasised in a number of ways. The building is positioned on the side of Itämerentori, the main square. It consists of a 16-storey high tower, which forms a dominant centre point to the area and to the gateway from the west. In the low urban silhouette of Helsinki it acts as a pair with Itäkeskus, the landmark tower in eastern Helsinki. The curved form of the northern side of the building embraces and redirects the cars that enter the city from the west. The remaining three sides of the building follow the orthogonal urban plan.
Cor-Ten
steel facade seen from the Baltic Square (Itämerentori).
The lower part of the building consists of three 5-storey office wings that enclose an inner courtyard. The glass-facaded offices open onto a gallery space that is covered by a large (compared to normal Finnish standards) glass roof of nearly 1000 m2.
Gallery
with glass roof, cafeteria on the right.
The tower contains office premises, the top floor consisting of conference facilities and saunas. The average floor area of the square is stipulated in the master plan. In order to appear slim from the sea the tower was given a specifically sculpted form. The office layout is based on the so called “open building” principle within which structure, vertical services and technology provide a minimum amount of limitation to the flexibility of the building and to its possible future uses.
Glass
roof of the Gallery.
The ground floor consists of lobby areas with their associated conference facilities and a pedestrian gallery providing a cafe-restaurant and shops through the building. The main entry is from Itämerentori square. The building has a further two basement floors which accommodate storage space as well as technical and staff facilities in addition to 370 car parking spaces. The building will also contain a medical centre. Approximately 600 office workers will occupy the building.
Aerial
photo from the south-east.
The frame of the building consists of steel columns and beams and pre-cast concrete slabs. The basements are in situ cast. The elevations consist mainly of a double skin structure. The materials include glass and Cor-Ten weatherproof steel and acid proof steel on certain parts of the tower. Besides urban and architectural reasons, the double skin structure was so devised in order to minimise services investments and energy consumption and to decrease maintenance expenditure and to improve sound proofing and information protection. The use of Cor-Ten was justified by its ecological characteristics, such as complete recyclability. In addition, Cor-Ten links the building to the old red brick environment of the office and industrial buildings in old Ruoholahti, whilst simultaneously relating to the metal character of the new office blocks on the building’s eastern side. Cor-Ten is a technical material, yet it is also genuine and robust, not unlike natural materials.
Double
skin structure consists of Cor-Ten steel.
Building completed: 11 / 2000
Total area: 32 155 m2
Permitted gross floor area: 18 900 m2
Volume: 142 000 m3
View
seen upwards from the entrance of the Gallery.
Photographs: YIT, Titta Lumio, Jussi Tiainen, Timo Patomo