World Design Capital Helsinki 2012 Events Pavilion

The Pavilion is an open-to-all, easily approachable building which creates a lively venue on an otherwise forgotten site in downtown Helsinki.

By means of its form and its activities, the Pavilion links together the Museum of Finnish Architecture and the Design Museum. It makes it possible to organise and combine a wide range of events and activities. The Pavilion is  the heart of the Design Capital.

The open building enables visitors to enjoy every aspect of the summer. The modular triangular grid roof creates playful lighting for the Pavilion, which washes over the terrace during the course of the day. The Pavilion gathers visitors together to enjoy refreshments while meeting new people, encountering new ideas in art and design and taking part in new events.

The Pavilion consists of a covered terrace with a triangularshaped enclosure at each end. The smaller of these two triangles houses a kitchen and an open-air café. The larger triangle houses a media space which can be extended onto the terrace. The kitchen and the media space are semi-indoor spaces which can be closed off at night.

The columns carrying the roof are founded on thick steel plates set on a gravel bed. Each column has a hexagonal boxsection structure in plywood. The columns, which taper towards the base, are tied together with long horizontal screws. The box-sections have a lattice core of structural timber with 9 + 9-mm birch plywood glued on each side.

The roof consists of a triangular grid of beams with a translucent covering of polycarbonate sheeting. The beams are glued box-beams which also have a core of structural timber with birch plywood glued on each side.

The terrace is constructed of structural timber and has a floor covering of laminated pine elements. The café and media space are assembled from pre-treated gluelaminated pine elements.

The wall to the media space can be opened up completely for open-air performances and there are seats for an audience of around 200. At full capacity, the Pavilion is dimensioned for an audience of 500. There is unobstructed wheelchair access to the Pavilion on both sides of the terrace.