Urban planning

Kotka is a traditional port in Eastern Finland. The shipping functions are being moved out of the traditional Kantasatama harbor area. ALA was commissioned to develop a masterplan to enable the future development of the area.

The harbor used to be a vivid part of the civic life of Kotka. The aim of the masterplan is not to replace the old with a generic collection of housing and services, but rather to build on the exiting qualities: space, sea and proximity to the Kotka city centre.

The resulting design is a field of opportunities where the specific functions are located according to their specifications, and the remaining area is occupied by the residents. The urban fabric consists of floating nodes on a flexible, flat field. the presence of the shore is felt throughout the whole area. The old harbor becomes a contemporary extension of the centre of Kotka.

The scheme, called "Tropaion", consists of five perimeter blocks of varying heights covered with roof terraces of the upper apartments. The blocks form a gigantic bowl shape with crossing sea views from all terraces and a sense of community and togetherness for the people.

The courtyards will form semi-private spaces, which the residents of Helsinki are very fond of, and public streets with shops and services at street level. Building heights vary from 16 floors down to two, with varying housing typologies and apartments sizes included in the same blocks.

The methodology of this project was rigid. We first started by analyzing the views to and from the site, the functions surrounding it and the nature of the immediate surroundings. The eastern shore was given an industrial nature, the western was made into a park.

A traditional Helsinki city block structure projected onto the site was shaped to fit long vistas across the site and broken up to minimize wind acceleration. The corners of the buildings where rounded to smooth out wind loads. Sea views where maximized by lifting up the buildings by the shoreline and opening up the public spaces outward to the sea. Streetscapes where given a human scale by lowering the buildings down to two floors in central areas. These moves gave the area its bowl like topology.

The city plan has been approved by the local authorities, and the general public has responded with enthusiasm to the promise of something different on the very conservative Finnish housing market. Construction of the first units will begin after the site has been cleared of the remains of the old power plant.

The aim of the new project is to bring totally new housing typologies into relatively conservative fi nnish suburban housing scheme; to create more ecological, diverse and characteristic living surroundings. This is achieved by creating compact but flexible city structure with only two different plot sizes which density can vary significantly. With this system the structure and density of the whole area can be varied easily.

The concept of the area is also based on creative traffic design. The traffic system adds pedestrians, bicycles and vehicles into one unifi ed stream. The Henttaanlaakso area will have only one large slow-speed street area with mixed traffic, where according to research drivers act more carefully than in typical street systems. One big shared courtyard meanders between the houses; only passing traffic and public traffic are on separate lanes.

Large variety of apartments is achieved with different housing typologies. Catalyzing ecological lifestyle has also been one of the goals of the project; making self-sufficient living possible both on levels of individuals and the housing area. Compact city structure, energy effi cient buildings, self-monitored water & energy consumption and shared recycling facilities help to achieve this goal. Local energy sources including geothermal heating reduce areas carbon footprint significantly.

Supporting the sense of community is strenghtened with multiple shared areas and facilities. Areas rich biota is supported by building preservation areas among the community. Playgrounds and parks connected with shared courtyard create a lively new housing area.

ALA Architects has presented a new master plan vision for the historical harbour area in the centre of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The vision presents a series of interventions and improvements to the area ranging from delicate changes around the market square area to 50 000 m2 of new floor area located on top of the existing harbour area.

The project is based on an analysis of the existing challenges and potentials of the area and surroundings. The design team adopted sociologist Guido Martinotti’s ideas of four different populations of a second generation metropolis as the conceptual framework for the project. The improved harbour area will function for all these populations: it will be a true multi-layered public urban area.

The most dramatic improvement proposed in the master plan is to continue the historical Observatory Park over the harbour loading and parking area as a green deck, bringing the park- and the people- to the water. This green deck becomes a public car-free park-like area and connects the main coastal pedestrian routes which are now cut off by the harbour area. All harbour functions remain on site under the deck.

Hill-like building volumes rise from the deck providing new functions and urban life to the area. All spaces on the deck level open to the outside and are public in nature: cafes, bars and shops as well as a maritime aquarium are proposed.