Shopping centre Iso Omena (Big Apple) is located in Espoo, on the Länsiväylä road. It is the most significant part of the new city-like downtown area of Matinkylä and Olari. The building complex provides versatile commercial services, office facilities and service flats. The objective has been to increase the service level, housing attraction and prestige of the area, as well as to make the scattered town structure more compact.
Main
entrance.
The shopping centre is the main part of Iso Omena. It is the pedestal of the building complex, with all the other functions rising from it. Each section and elevation has its own appearance, reflective of its functions. The façades are characterised by durable materials, large glass surfaces and transparency, as well as by colours, light and motion.
Iso Omena consists of two main levels. The upper level is connected with the new downtown main street Piispansilta, which borders Iso Omena on the east side. The lower level is connected to the lower market square on the west side of the building and to a park-like parking lot. On the Piispansilta side the building entity has been divided into sections by means of tower-type buildings to create a city street space. At the street level the mall arcade opens up to the environment through large display windows.
Central
market, glass roofing and cherry wood surface.
The central market is several storeys high and forms the centre of Iso Omena in terms of both traffic and functions. The main level of the market is located at Piispansilta Street’s level, penetrates the service level above and extends to the hyper level below, partly all the way down to the parking level. The central market serves as a traffic route (through-passage, access to other levels), as a resting place (food court) and as an experience space (performance stage etc.). It is the meeting place for the residents of the area. The central market is characterised by the undulating translucent roofing, which is repeated on the roof of the arcade that crosses the central market.
Iso Omena contains versatile commercial services. On the lower main level, the so-called hyper level, there are two giant markets and other services. The upper main level, the market level, contains special stores, cafeterias and restaurants. The façades of the stores on the internal street are all unique, yet conform to the total plan. The arcade expands into a square at both ends, accessible from the outside and from the parking facilities.
The service level above the market level contains the city library, a common customer service point of various council functions, a cinema centre with three auditoriums, and a chapel. There are also special stores, cafeterias and restaurants, medical services as well as gyms and beauty salons on this level.
Corridor
of the service level.
Part of the office facilities are located in an office block beside the main entrance. The three other tower buildings on the Matinkyläntie Road contain high-class service flats with internal passages to the service facilities of Iso Omena. The building on the Länsiväylä Road provides offices facilities above the commercial floors, easily modifiable to be used as separate office rooms, open plan offices or combination offices.
Iso Omena is easy to access from all directions, and with all means of transport. Space has been reserved immediately next to Iso Omena on the south side for a metro station should the metro line be extended here. The parking facilities contain a total of some 2000 parking spaces, 1000 of these in the parking lot under the commercial facilities, some 700 in the parking garage and the rest on the roof and at ground level.
Special
store and service levels.
The various parts of the building complex all have their own character. The office section on the Länsiväylä Road and the office tower beside the main entrance have a glass-and-metal expression, which is repeated on the street façade on Piispansilta. The apartment towers are an exception to this, with built and plastered façades.
Structures
of the long corridor before covering.
The pedestal of the parking garage on Suomenlahdentie Road is mostly made of ground concrete, and the actual façade is glazed with screen-printed glass. The long elevation on Markkinakatu Street is divided into sections by exit staircases. At ground level, the wall surfaces between the staircases are mainly of glass. The façade of the upper level consists of windows as well as metallic coloured clinker or metal surface. The tall wall that borders the lower market square is the northern end of the axis that begins in the old Matinkylä centre. The market square is characterised by the coloured wall surfaces of the cinema, behind the glass wall, and one of the main entrances of Iso Omena also opens up to the market square. The façades of the upper floors of the shopping centre open up mainly to roof surfaces, used as parking lots and rooftop courtyards. The façade materials include metal surface and glass.
Completed in 09/2001
Total area: 161 000 m2
Volume: 790 800 m3
Photographs: Jussi Tiainen