Helsinki sights part 02

Taking time out from the city central and heading to Eira in the south west of Helsinki where you find a mix of the old industrial, new residential and older residential. This area is on the master plan to be a central hub with new housing to replace the industrial buildings. Grim reality is the new residential blocks reference the older buildings in their surrounds. I will let the public be the judge on the outcome of these buildings.

On the brighter note one of the most impressive buildings in Helsinki for me is the Kiasma museum of Contemporary art designed by Steven Holl. The exterior grew on me once I fully understood it from the inside. Natural light fills most rooms and on every level there is a room with exterior views, not to leave out all the gadgetry used within the building. The public works is also displays fantastic range of Finnish and international contemporary artists. Top of the list of places to see and if art is not your thing just use the café down on entry level.

Helsinki sights part 01

So far I have not really discussed the city in which I am meant to be living, partly because I have been seeing it in small stages and the other being I did not want to start judging the city before I understood it. Well I am glad to say I still really do not understand it! Things like the night life are an expensive investment, the catch being this is when the Finns are most friendly & talkative. I will choose to avoid commenting on the nightlife as I know it’s here and I just need the right people to help me find it. So in these first stages I will discuss sights and activities that have occurred over the past month, unfortunately for some I am about to discuss the architecture and cultural things I have discovered so you can possibly skip though to the picture sections of my blog.

Walking the streets of Helsinki you can see the influences that Russia has had on the development of the city and its buildings. The streets can tend to blend into one another with the pale colour facades before being broken up by a standout building or public park area. Alvar Aalto has left his ink on the city with such buildings like Finlandia Hall with its breath taking marble façade and great horizontal proportions overlooking the lake. One can only marvel in the attention to detail that has been put into the building, marble cladding can even be found on the inner walls of the loading area/ undercover car park. However I feel the presence of the building is undermined by the tarmac car park which is positioned in front of it. Enclosed by a line of trees that obscure a view to an open parkland and baron paved area used as a shortcut to the train station. This famous icon of Helsinki is let down by the space in front of it, one can only suggest that this was not the overall picture Aalto had seen. The addition of the contemporary art museum has bolstered the area but there are vast amounts of nothingness between the iconic links which scream for improvement. The master plan for Helsinki has a lot of promise but my first impressions are clouded by developer style construction.

Another site to check out are the Kansallismeseo or National Museum of Finland has a bear guarding its entry, apparently its cool to have your picture taken in front of it. It has never been open when I have been past but apparently it has Finnish history inside.

New architecture in Tallinn

Residence and comercial building.
Architects: Margit Mutso, Kristie Poldme.

The one thing I really enjoyed while checking out the newer Russian influenced parts of the city was the amount of great new architecture going up. I was lucky to find a place called nu nordik which has heaps of cool stuff & a copy of architektuuriaasta 2007. This book shows the all the newer architecture in the town and most of it is very impressive. It is refreshing to see that a city who has lived under so many rulers has come along way in 17years. Tallinn gets into my top 5 of places I have seen and I could possibly live here… unfortunately the book predicts ‘2007 will go down in the annals of Estonia as the last good year of the construction boom.’ Once again I have more on film due to the digital running flat.Tallinn English College sports building.
Architects: Lembit-Kaur Stoor, Margus Maiste, Andrus Koresaar.

Tallinn Train station & hotel.

Suburban Slums of Tallinn

Please do yourself the favour of getting out of the Old Town! I recommend spending more time in the real Tallinn than the old world beauty. The funky bike tour leads you out into a bunch of Soviet influenced concrete apartments and run down timber houses. In reality this area is in transition, new Architecture is sprouting up everywhere & old houses are being converted. There is also a park located out there where beautiful trees cover the green grass beside a chapel. The unfortunate thing is no-one uses Kalamaja kalmistupark for anything! Probably because it used to be a cemetery until they removed all the tombstones and used them as wave breakers out off the port. What? Yes and it was not until a storm blew over a tree and a child was captured playing with human remains that the true reality set in of the decision. On a brighter note they plan to redo the park to make it more appealing…

The chapel in the park.Yes, there are countless amounts of bodies under the grassy areas, paths & trees.Stencil art is all over the suburbs...like everywhere these days.
On a brighter note the prison is located not too far from the site & its good to know it is now closed down. Patarei Prison was closed down due too bad health conditions of the prisoners only a few years ago. One look at the entry & road in and it looks like it has been empty for 20years, well at least it should have. This is one creepy place and it makes you wonder why it has a view to the sea, climbing the old watch tower is an experience. It was so creepy my camera packed it in after a few photos… Ironic that Patarei means battery in Estonian… Or stupid I forgot to pack my charger