Länsisatama Park

Location: Helsinki, Finland
Client: City of Helsinki
Team: Stig L. Andersson, Malin Blomqvist, Veronica Cheann, Lone Nielsen, Annelie Håkansson, Jonas Sangberg, Thomas Kock
Design phase: 2005
Area: 10,5 ha.

Remember how the water shaped the sand, and how we built great landscapes with fantastic shapes of wet sand as children? In Länsisatama, SLA suggests a park that is a cultivation of the water’s plays with the sand. A cultivation that shapes the public space in the same way as the underlying sea floor is shaped by water and wind through centuries.

In Länsisatama Park, the urban nature mimics the processes of natural nature using the materials of the city. The aim with the shape of the park is to give space to all. Space for children to play and practice their motoric skills in the hilly landscape, space for the city’s elders to relax, space to stroll through the trees and water bodies with views towards the city, and space for self organized sport such as joggers or mountain bikers. There is also space for sunny days on the urban beach, and space for sledging on the snow covered winter landscape.

The park becomes a living organism in the city, a place where the interaction of matters is made visible: Rain water is being collected in detention ponds, and with varying water levels and rush vegetation, the experience of the park is constantly changing. Local plazas, resting areas and playgrounds are placed freely like islands, floating on the undulating surface.