Location: Mannerheimintie 13E, Helsinki
Tel. 09- 402 410
Trolley: 4, 7A, 10
Bus: 40
www.finlandiatalo.fi/en
Finlandia Hall is a congress and event center on the shore of
Töölönlahti in the center of Helsinki.
Finlandia Hall was part of
Alvar Aalto's Helsinki city center plan, according to which a chain of
cultural buildings should have been built on the West Bank of
Töölönlahti. Other buildings designed by Aalto were not realized. Alvar
Aalto designed the building in 1962, and it was completed in 1971. The
congress wing was designed in 1970 and built between 1973 and 1975. In
the spring of 2011, a new exhibition and meeting space was completed in
the building.
The opening of Finlandia Hall was celebrated on
December 2, 1971. The opening concert premiered Einojuhani Rautavaara's
Mere tytär and Aulis Sallinen's Symphony No. 1 op. 24; in addition,
Isaac Stern played Sibelius' violin concerto as soloist of the Helsinki
City Orchestra.
Finlandia Hall has, among other things, meeting
and banquet facilities for small-scale business events, parties,
exhibitions, concerts and large international congresses. The building
is also a popular attraction, visited by thousands of tourists from
different parts of the world every year. The building is owned by the
city of Helsinki.
During the basic renovation of Finlandia Hall
(2022–2024), Finlandia Hall's operations have moved to Little Finland.
The main idea of Finlandia Hall was a tower-like part with a slanted
roof built over the whole. This idea came about because Aalto believed
he could achieve better acoustics by leaving an empty reverberation
space above the hall. Thanks to the lattice structure of the inner
ceiling, the space is invisible to the public, but it allows for a deep
reverberation, which is characteristic of tall church halls. Aalto used
marble for both interior and exterior surfaces, where it contrasts with
the black granite. For Aalto, marble serves as a link to the culture of
the Mediterranean region, which he wanted to bring to his home country
as well.
The details of the building, such as lighting,
furniture, panels, floor coverings and decorative moldings are designed
separately. According to Aalto's point of view, architecture must be a
source for people? Aalto's idea was that the audience at Finlandia Hall
does not have to be dressed in formal attire, as in the wonderful opera
houses and gilded concert halls of the past, but should rather be as
authentic and natural as its surroundings.
In the main building there are Finlandia hall (1,700 people), Helsinki hall (340 people), Terassisali (250 people), Elissa hall (130 people), Aurora hall (84 people), Veranda (1,700 people), restaurant halls and Cafe Veranda and Gallery Veranda open to the public.
Finlandia hall was originally designed as a concert hall, and it is a
reduced version of the hall of the grand opera house in Essen. The hall
has Finland's first large concert hall organ built by the Kangasala
organ factory. Their facade is also designed by Alvar Aalto.
Finlandia Hall's acoustics caused problems in the beginning. Aalto
wanted the hall to resemble a medieval church, whose acoustics are
naturally good. The high reverberation space above the hall was
originally open all the way up. In connection with the repairs, the
space was closed, and at the same time the hall's stage was raised by
half a meter. Nowadays, the acoustics of the Finlandia hall have been
found to be of a good average level. according to whom? The doors of the
hall are covered with material made from horse reins.
There are
1,200 seats on the floor of the hall and 500 on the balcony. The floor
is oak parquet and the blue parts on the wall are Finnish birch. The
stage is 15 meters wide and consists of several liftable stage lift
blocks. The curtain in the hall is designed by Dora Jung. There is a
goods elevator in the middle of the platform, which can be used to
transport goods to the warehouses on the two floors below the platform.
Finlandia-sali already became popular as a place for meetings,
congresses, parties, concerts and various events.
Finlandia Hall
has also served as the stage for many political events. These include,
for example, the OSCE meeting held in the summer of 1975, which was
attended by the President of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, and the
President of the United States, Gerald Ford. At the meeting, every other
row had been removed to accommodate the participants at the tables. Many
other world leaders have also given speeches in Finlandia Hall, such as
President Ronald Reagan, President George H.W. Bush, President Mikhail
Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II and the Dalai Lama.
Piazza is a large and bright warm space. The name comes from the
Italian markets and squares that Aalto admired, where people gathered to
meet each other.
Helsinki hall
Various events are organized in
the Helsinki hall and its warmth. Aalto used the church hall of St.
Stephen's Church in Detmerode, Germany as a model for this space.
Especially the roof is a copy of it. American Oregon pine was used for
the roof paneling. When you look at the walls of the Helsinki hall, you
notice that the hall has only one sharp corner.
The restaurant consists of three halls separated by movable walls. Combined, the halls can accommodate 380 people and a cocktail event can be organized for 650 people.
The specialty of the congress wing is the "waves" of the facade,
which give the building liveliness. The exterior walls follow the shape
of the surrounding terrain; they are not straight, but curved. Aalto
wanted both to preserve a large part of the trees growing on the plot
and also to break the rigid similarity characteristic of straight walls.
The congress wing has convertible halls A and B and a total of 13
smaller meeting rooms.
The Veranda extension was completed in 2011 on the Karamzininranta
side of the space that previously served as a dark ramp and covered
parking space. The extension part is a covered space that is as neutral
as possible and light in concept. The original character and materials
of its ceiling, wall and floor surfaces have been preserved as far as
possible. The construction work has been carried out in cooperation with
the Finnish Museum Agency. As few new fixed elements as possible have
been placed in the large uniform space, so that the space can be used
for exhibitions and banquets, for example. With the help of movable
walls, the space can be divided into smaller space combinations. The
total area of the veranda is 2,200 m², the meeting space is for
240–1,310 people. Dining can be organized for 1,000 people and cocktail
parties for 1,700 people. Jyrki Iso-Aho was the main designer of
Veranda, and Jaakko Puro Oy was responsible for Veranda's interior
design. In addition to design, the furniture choices were based on
lightness, transportability and suitability for many different uses. The
Veranda also houses Cafe Veranda, open to the public, and Gallery
Veranda.
Structure and repairs
The load-bearing frame of the
Finlandia building - the pillars, beams and outer walls - is reinforced
concrete, the partition walls are concrete and brick. Some of the
partitions are load-bearing. The sub-floors are both cast concrete
sub-floors (joists) and sub-slab joists (e.g. the ceilings of the
concert hall's heat and the balcony's heat). The concert hall and
chamber music halls are separated from the rest of the building for
acoustic reasons.
The walls of the house are covered with large
tiles made of Carrara marble. The tiles started warping in the 1980s and
in 1991, protective nets were installed on the building sites. Finally,
the tiles were replaced with new similar marble tiles in 1998–1999. The
renovation was preceded by an extensive discussion about material
choices. In 2013, it was noted that even the new tiles have started to
warp. During the renovation of the house's facade during the years
2021–2024, it will be covered with Lasa marble. 7,000 square meters of
it goes into the walls, and the price of the renovation is 7–9 million
euros.
Finlandia House is located in the park between Mannerheimintie and
Töölönlahti. Its neighbors are the Hesperia park and the Hakasalmi villa
of the Helsinki City Museum. The National Museum is opposite it on the
other side of Mannerheimintie.
Limited company
In June 2006,
the organization of Finlandia Hall changed into an independent limited
company, whose share capital is fully owned by the City of Helsinki. The
company's CEO is Johanna Tolonen.
The turnover of the congress
and event center Finlandia-talo Oy was 8.7 million euros in the fiscal
year 2015. The increase compared to 2014 is about 1.1 million euros.
Finlandia Hall's profit will more than triple compared to the previous
year's 168,000 euros. This is the best result in Finlandia Hall's
45-year history.
Directors of Finlandia Hall
Bengt Broms
1971–1982
Carl Öhman 1982–1988
Matti Kivinen 1988–2000
Auni
Palo 2000–2011
Johanna Tolonen 2012–