Industry
Culture
Originally designed as a printing house by Aarno Ruusuvuori, Espoo’s WeeGee cultural centre was transformed into a unique exhibition centre for culture. More than 20,000m2 devoted to museums: EMMA - Espoo Museum of Modern Art, Espoo City Museum, Finnish Toy Museum and the Helinä Rautavaara Museum of cultures. The new WeeGee echoes the opening of the Tennispalatsi museum and entertainment centre in a disused tennis hall in Kamppi a decade earlier, now one of the busiest weekend venues in Helsinki. Island city “Saari” is Finnish for “island,” and understanding imminent development projects in Helsinki only requires a glance at the names: Hanasaari, Jätkäsaari, Koivusaari, and Hernesaari, all taking some cues from the largely completed Vuosaari. Moving the city’s main container harbour to the eastern end of Vuosaari opened up Hanasaari, Hernesaari, and Jätkäsaari for residential development, and over the next decade massive construction projects will provide homes for thousands within walking distance of the city centre – and, most importantly, close to the water, which is where just about everyone prefers to live. In the meantime, on the western side of Vuosaari, heavy industrial has turned home to thousands, right next to the open sea. Families walk and shop, dogs run in the sand, and grannies hit the beach for their icy polar bear swims. Although the coming areas will be closer to town and presumably more urban, these basic needs of families, dogs, and grannies have been the driving force shaping the plans of these areas as well.
WeeGee
Open Helsinki — Embedding Design in Life
World Design Capital 2012 Application