Ympyrätalo ( sv, Cirkelhuset; lit. "Circle House") is a circle-shaped office building located in the
Hakaniemi
Hakaniemi (; sv, Hagnäs) is an unofficial district of Helsinki, the Finnish capital. It covers most of the neighbourhood of Siltasaari in the district of Kallio. Hakaniemi is located at the sea shore and is separated from the city centre by the ...
district of
Helsinki
Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the Capital city, capital, primate city, primate, and List of cities and towns in Finland, most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of U ...
,
Finland
Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...
. The building is a local
landmark
A landmark is a recognizable natural or artificial feature used for navigation, a feature that stands out from its near environment and is often visible from long distances.
In modern use, the term can also be applied to smaller structures or f ...
.
History
Before Ympyrätalo was built, the block outlined by Siltasaarenkatu, Eläintarhantie and Porthaninrinne contained several wooden houses and a couple of stone buildings, such as the Wendt House which was designed by
Gustaf Estlander
Gustaf Axel Estlander (18 September 1876 – 1 December 1930) was a Finnish architect and one of the most successful Scandinavian yacht designers of the early 20th century. He was born and educated in Finland, later set up a yacht yard in German ...
and completed in 1903. All these buildings were demolished to make room for Ympyrätalo.
Ympyrätalo was designed by architects
Heikki
Heikki is a Finnish and Estonian male given name. It derives from a medieval vernacular form of the name Henrik. Notable people with the name include:
* Heikki Aho (footballer) (born 1983), Finnish footballer
* Heikki A. Alikoski (1912–1997), ...
and
Kaija Siren
Katri (Kaija) Anna-Maija Helena Siren (née Tuominen; October 23, 1920 in Kotka – January 15, 2001) was a Finnish architect. She graduated as an architect from the Helsinki University of Technology in 1948. Siren designed most of her works t ...
and work lasted eight years. It opened in 1968. It originally served as offices for
Kansallis-Osake-Pankki
Kansallis-Osake-Pankki (KOP) was a Finnish commercial bank operating from 1889 to 1995. It was created by the fennoman movement as a Finnish language alternative to the largely Swedish language bank, Suomen Yhdyspankki (''Swedish: Föreningsbank ...
. Outside the building are three booths that functioned as a drive-through bank until its closure in the 1970s due to low demand.
The building's architecture has been seen as a high point in 1960s Finnish office building architecture as other buildings of the decade, such as the Säästökulma building by Antero Pernaja, the Scandinavian Bank building and the Helsinki Telephone headquarters, were considered to be mediocre by comparison. At the same time Ympyrätalo, as well as the neighboring Kallio administrative building (1965) by the same architects, has been polarizing with its monumentality. Before completing these buildings the Siren architects had created a small stage for the Finnish National Theatre (1954) as well as being entrusted with the plans for the renovation of
Helsinki Cathedral
Helsinki Cathedral ( fi, Helsingin tuomiokirkko, ; sv, Helsingfors domkyrka, ) is the Evangelical Lutheran Church of Finland, Finnish Evangelical Lutheran cathedral of the Diocese of Helsinki, located in the neighborhood of Kruununhaka in the c ...
(1961–1963). The local architects went on to design important buildings in Paris, Japan, Austria and Iraq.
Ympyrätalo was renovated in the early 2000s to comply with modern technical and functional standards. The renovation project was completed in 2004. One of the architects responsible for the renovation was Jukka Siren, son of the Sirens who designed the building. The building's exterior, entrances, inner courtyard and stairways are protected by a zoning ordinance.
The building is currently owned by the insurance company Ilmarinen and tenants include an
S-Market
The S Group ( fi, S-ryhmä, sv, S-gruppen) is a Finnish retailing cooperative organisation with its head office in Helsinki. Founded in 1904, it consists of 20 regional cooperatives operating all around Finland in addition to SOK, ''Suomen Osuu ...
Mehiläinen Mehiläinen (Finnish for " bee") is a concern for social and healthcare services for both public and private customers, active in Finland, Sweden, Germany and Estonia. The company's largest owner is CVC Capital Partners.Hakaniemi Square in 1961. The Wendt House in the middle was later torn down to make room for Ympyrätalo.
File:Hakaniemenpyoreatalo.jpg, Ympyrätalo viewed from Hakaniemi Square.
File:Saastopankinranta_290408.jpg, View to Ympyrätalo from Säästöpankinranta.
Transport connections
Entrances to
Hakaniemi metro station
Hakaniemi metro station (, ) is a station on the Helsinki Metro. It serves the central Helsinki districts of Hakaniemi and Kallio. Both lines M1 and M2 serve Hakaniemi. There are 28 bicycle parking spaces at the station.
Opened on 1 June 1982, Ha ...
of the
Helsinki Metro
The Helsinki Metro ( fi, Helsingin metro, sv, Helsingfors metro) is a rapid transit system serving Greater Helsinki, Finland. It is the world's northernmost metro system. It was opened to the general public on 2 August 1982 after 27 years of p ...
are located just outside Ympyrätalo. It has been suggested that the metro station could be directly connected to Ympyrätalo in the future but these plans have so far been postponed. Tram lines 1, 3, 6, 7 and 9 pass by Ympyrätalo. The nearby bus stops are serviced by numerous local and regional bus lines driving Hämeentie to and from the Rautatientori terminus, including bus 615 to
Helsinki Airport
Helsinki-Vantaa Airport (; fi, Helsinki-Vantaan lentoasema, sv, Helsingfors-Vanda flygplats), or simply Helsinki Airport, is the main international airport of the city of Helsinki, its surrounding Greater Helsinki, metropolitan area, and the ...
.
Public art
Ympyrätalo features a minimalist sculpture called "The Symbol": a 3-meter steel ball designed by Hannu Siren, the son of the architects Heikki and Kaija Siren, and installed in 1985 to one of the building's entrances.
See also
*
Otaniemi Chapel
Otaniemi Chapel ( fi, Otaniemen kappeli, sv, Otnäs kapell) is a Lutheran chapel located in the Otaniemi campus of Aalto University in Espoo, Finland.
History
The chapel was designed by the architect couple Heikki and Kaija Siren for a 1954 ar ...