Helsinki KONE Symposium

The Helsinki symposium, organized by KONE Elevators, had been at least two years in discussion, with several tentative dates that had not quite happened along the way. The advantage of the April, 2012 date, I distinctly remember a colleague from KONE telling me in advance, was that the weather would surely be better. After one of the mildest Chicago winters on record and the early arrival of spring and temperatures in the 80s (26C) in the U.S. midwest, it was somewhat a shock then to touch down in a frozen Helsinki, which was still firmly under a blanket of snow.

Frozen Finland in April, yet to fully emerge into Spring

Helsinki is a delightful Baltic city of slightly more than one million inhabitants, if you count it as an urban agglomeration, which you can't do strictly speaking, since it consists of three very separate administrative city regions -- Helsinki, Espoo and Vantaa). Perched on the southern edge of this large but sparsely populated country -- Finland has the same land area as Italy but only 5 million in total population--it stares across the Baltic Straits at the Estonian city of Tallin, and seems perched in more ways than just geographically between Scandinavia to the west and Russia to the east. With a long history of domination by first Sweden and then Russia, and often played as a pawn between the two, it is a relatively new nation, with real independence only obtained since the end of the first world war. As is typical of relatively new nations, there is confidence and pride about the achievements of recent years, including the growth of Nokia into one of the world's most successful mobile phone companies, the hosting of the 1952 Olympic Games, the winning of several Nobel Prizes, the Miss Universe contest in 1952, the World ice hockey championship in 1995 and 2011 and even the Eurovision song contest in 2006! -- and yet there is also perhaps a slight angst about the Finnish place in the world, and where the country is heading next.

During my time there, amid the sparkling clean and well kept streets of Helsinki, I saw one Romanian down-and-out with a begging bowl, which caused some consternation among my local companions. Apparently this sight -- common to most of the rest of the world -- was unthinkable on the streets of Helsinki even just a year or so ago. As I was to learn, immigration is quickly developing into one of the top concerns of the average Finn.

CTBUH executive director Antony Wood presents his views on tall buildings at the press conference KONE President and chief executive Mr. Matti Alahuhta opens the tall building symposium

I didn't see a single tall building as I drove in from the airport, and I began to worry that I'd been invited to conduct the impossible task of convincing a skeptical public that their capital city had to join the race for an iconic skyline to make it competitive in the global battle between cities. As I viewed the beautiful neo-classical buildings of the humanly-scaled harbor promenade, and the slightly undulating streets of the capital with its six-story harmonic streetscape, peppered with Alvar Aalto and Eliel Saarinen buildings, it was clear to me that the introduction of a significant tall building skyline was neither appropriate nor justifiable.

Fortunately in the next two days, over various meetings, seminars and press conferences, I discovered that this indeed was not the case. In their typically modest and restrained manner, the Finns are planning a small number of high rise buildings of only 30 to 40 stories in their capital and adjoining cities, located in small clusters largely away from the historic centers. Actually, given that virtually every city in Europe already has a number of these buildings, with many cities (even historic ones) questing for super- and mega-talls, I came away a little surprised that the Finns were in such deliberation about it. As I was to learn, however, the Finns take any aspect of design very seriously, and most definitely want to get the development of their cities right.


Peter Rees, Chief Planning Officer City of London, explains to symposium delegates the intricacies of London		Finnish architect Pekka Helin of Helin & Co Architects presents some of his proposals for high rise in Helsinki

KONE, headquartered in the country for some 100+ years now, had organized a series of meetings and a half-day symposium to debate the future of Finnish high rise buildings. I'd been invited as a key speaker at these events, joined by the infallible Peter Rees, chief city planning officer from the City of London, and local architect Pekka Helin of Helin & Co Architects, who is designing several of the planned buildings. Delegates had come from Russia and other parts of the Baltics for the event, and it was an interesting and thoughtful session.

Meeting with the mayor of Helsinki in City Hall. Left to right: Antony Wood, CTBUH; Ari Lehtoranta, KONE; mayor of Helsinki, Mr. Jussi Pajunen; deputy mayor of City Planning and Real Estate, Mr. Hannu Penttila; Peter Rees, chief planning officer, City of London

Meeting with the mayor of Espoo. Left to Right: Mr. Olavi Louko, Director of Technical Services for the City of Espoo; Peter Rees, Chief Planning Officer City of London; Ari Lehtoranta, KONE; Mayor of Espoo, Mr. Jukka Mäkelä; Antony Wood, CTBUH.

It is testimony to the charm and down-to-earth character of Helsinki that I had the pleasure of both lunch and dinner with the Mayor of Helsinki, Mr. Jussi Pajunen, on the same day -- lunch in the historic splendor of City Hall and dinner amidst the fantastic atmosphere of Alvar Aalto's Savoy restaurant -- as well as a meeting with the mayor of Espoo, Mr. Jukka Mäkelä, in his historic mansion home amid snow covered forests. The discussions and debate were earnest, and my number one advice for the Finns was to find a local response for their high rise-buildings, to open themselves to the specific opportunities of their unique culture and climate rather than isolate themselves and wrap themselves in the homogenous cloak of global architecture. The advice seemed to find a receptive home.

The cultural highlight of the two days in the city -- beyond consuming reindeer, bear and copious amounts of vodka -- was the trip out to visit KONE’s elevator test shaft-- the “tallest” in the world at 350 meters. It is also the deepest, as it exists within a deep cave in a working limestone quarry in the Finnish countryside, about an hour’s drive northwest of Helsinki. Though several colleagues from KONE had told me about this unique facility in advance, I wasn't quite prepared for the delight of the crypt-like restaurant located 100 meters below ground, or the somewhat bizarre sensation of travelling through sheer rock in the latest elevator car prototype-- a great experience, indeed.

Symposium Delegates 350 meters below ground in the KONE ‘tallest elevator test shaft in the world’, Tytyri working mine

Finland may be a quiet, modest country on the edge of Europe, in many ways. But, as evidenced by Nokia and KONE, Aalto and Saarinen, shipbuilding and all aspects of design generally, the country has had -- and continues to have -- a large influence on the world.

Acknowledgements: My kind thanks go to KONE for arranging and hosting this special program, and to the president and CEO Mr. Matti Alahuhta and executive vice president Mr. Ari Lehtoranta, in particular. My thanks to both the mayor of Helsinki, Mr. Jussi Pajunen, and the mayor of Espoo, Mr. Jukka Mäkelä, for their gracious time allotted to us. My personal thanks to Peter Rees for sharing all the experiences with me and, as always, for intellectually keeping me on my toes. And a final thanks to Johannes De Jong and Santeri Suoranta at KONE for treating me to the delights of the Russian “Bohemian” restaurant on the final evening -- the details of which will remain between the three of us.