Cultivating Kannelmäki

Helsinki / Finland /
Anu Hakola / Elias Luoto / Linnea Westerlund /
447

The neighbourhood of Kannelmäki was created as an expansion of the City of Helsinki after WWII. Before that the area was rural countryside. Around 10% of the current housing stock was built as part of the first developments in the end of 1950s. Many of the first residents of the suburb moved in from the countryside, and the first part of the neighbourhood was built as a so-called “forest suburb” with blocks of flats carefully placed to the existing landscape with maximum amounts of existing trees preserved.

In the 1970s and 1980s, growth accelerated within the construction of the new railway line and more than 60% of the current housing stock was built. Developments of this time period were denser and more grid-like, generally defined as“concrete suburb”. However, some developments of this time period included small- er scale timber developments with a more compact feel.

During the 2000s, the suburb has been undergoing a new transformation with the construction of Kaari shopping centre to the southwestern edge of the neighbourhood and the demolition of the original shopping mall in the suburb due to infill development. Today, a very diverse and multicultural group of people live in Kannelmäki, forming a variety of communities and micro-cultures in the area.

Kannelmäki is a surprisingly varied suburb, that is unfortunately divided and scattered due to lack of unified planning, the divisive influence of the railroad track, and lack of services in the central area. The neighbourhood needs a connecting element that weaves its diversity into an empowering union. The rest of this work describes a process through which this lost phantom site could be manifested into reality.