Kaapelitehdas ( Finnish for "the Cable Factory", also called simply Kaapeli, sv, Kabelfabriken) is a famous building in

Salmisaari Salmisaari ( sv, Sundholmen) is a small area (a sector, ''pienalue'') belonging to the Ruoholahti quarter of the Länsisatama neighbourhood of Helsinki, Finland. The Salmisaari island was previously located west of the Helsinginniemi peninsula. ...

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 ...

, near the Lauttasaari bridge. It was redeveloped from its industrial use into a cultural centre which hosts artists studios, three museums, activities and events.

History

The building was originally constructed as a cable

factory A factory, manufacturing plant or a production plant is an industrial facility, often a complex consisting of several buildings filled with machinery, where workers manufacture items or operate machines which process each item into another. ...

in 1939–1954 for Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy (Finnish Cable Works), hence the name. Cable manufacturing started in 1943 and was discontinued in 1987. Suomen Kaapelitehdas was acquired by Suomen Gummitehdas Oy (Finnish Rubber Works) in 1922. Suomen Gummitehdas was renamed Suomen Kumitehdas in 1959, and the companies Suomen Kumitehdas, Nokia Aktiebolag and Suomen Kaapelitehdas were merged in 1966–1967 to form Oy Nokia Ab (

Nokia Nokia Corporation (natively Nokia Oyj, referred to as Nokia) is a Finnish multinational telecommunications, information technology, and consumer electronics corporation, established in 1865. Nokia's main headquarters are in Espoo, Finland, i ...

Corporation).

Cultural centre

The building was acquired by the city of Helsinki and converted into a cultural centre, where various private and public organisations are based and can hold events large and small, concerts, exhibitions, fairs and festivals. There are also artist studios and the rent from the studios made the project financially viable. As of 2005, the turnover was 3.5 million euros. Kaapelitehdas is the home of three museums –

Finnish Museum of Photography Finnish may refer to: * Something or someone from, or related to Finland * Culture of Finland * Finnish people or Finns, the primary ethnic group in Finland * Finnish language, the national language of the Finnish people * Finnish cuisine See also ...

, Theatre Museum and

Hotel and Restaurant Museum The Hotel and Restaurant Museum ( fi, Hotelli- ja ravintolamuseo) specializes in the history of Finnish hotels, restaurants, cafés, tourism and culinary culture. The museum is located in Kaapelitehdas, Helsinki, Finland. The museum was first ope ...

. It also provides space for galleries, dance theatres, ateliers, art schools, rehearsing studios, radio stations and a popular restaurant named Hima & Sali. The company Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo is responsible for developing, renting and maintaining the facilities. Kiinteistö Oy Kaapelitalo is owned by the City of Helsinki. Since 1 January 2008, the company has also managed an old gasworks in the eastern part of the city center. Renovation and renting of the Suvilahti will take years. Kaapelitehdas is a member of the Trans Europe Halles (TEH) network of independent cultural centres in Europe.TEH
/ref> The TEH Communication and Administration Office was set up there in 2003.

References

External links

Kaapelitehdas in English

Photos from Cable Factory (flickr.com)

{{Helsinki Cityscape Buildings and structures in Helsinki Museums in Helsinki Adaptive reuse of industrial structures Restaurants in Helsinki Cultural centres in Finland Event venues in Finland Ruoholahti