Lasipalatsi ( sv, Glaspalatset; meaning literally "glass palace") is a functionalist office building designed in the 1930s, located on

Mannerheimintie Mannerheimintie ( sv, Mannerheimvägen), named after the Finnish military leader and statesman Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim, is the main street and boulevard of Helsinki, Finland. It was originally named Heikinkatu ( sv, Henriksgatan), after Rob ...

in the Kamppi district of

Helsinki Helsinki ( or ; ; sv, Helsingfors, ) is the capital, primate, and most populous city of Finland. Located on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, it is the seat of the region of Uusimaa in southern Finland, and has a population of . The city ...

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 ...

. Lasipalatsi is one of Helsinki's most notable functionalist buildings.

History

An earlier building at the same location was the Turku barracks, which was destroyed in the

Finnish Civil War The Finnish Civil War; . Other designations: Brethren War, Citizen War, Class War, Freedom War, Red Rebellion and Revolution, . According to 1,005 interviews done by the newspaper ''Aamulehti'', the most popular names were as follows: Civil W ...

in 1918. Lasipalatsi, designed by three young architects

Viljo Revell Viljo Gabriel Revell (25 January 1910 – 8 November 1964) was a Finnish architect of the functionalist school. In Finland he is best known for the design of the Lasipalatsi ("Glass Palace") and Palace Hotel, both in Helsinki. Internationally, ...

, Heimo Riihimäki and Niilo Kokko, was built on the same site in 1936. Lasipalatsi, containing

office An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific du ...

s, restaurants and a film theatre, was originally designed as a temporary building, later to be torn down to allow a larger office building to be constructed in its place. The Varuboden grocery, Oy Siemens AB and the HOK

ice cream bar An ice cream bar is a frozen dessert on a stick or a candy bar that has ice cream in it. The coating is usually a thin layer of chocolate used to prevent the melting and dripping of ice cream. This is also known in the UK as a Choc ice. The ice ...

were Lasipalatsi's most prominent businesses for decades. At the time of its opening, the film theatre Bio Rex was one of the biggest film theatres in the city, and many formal premieres of Finnish films were shown there. The original plans to tear down Lasipalatsi were postponed decade after decade, but the building also wasn't renovated, because its final fate was still left open. In the 1980s, large sheets advertising the Ale Pub underlined the shameful state of the worn building. Only when the Board of Construction set a threat fee, the Apartment Bureau renovated the building's outer walls. In summer 1985, the old grayish paint was replaced with through-coloured white mortar. Helsinkians opposed the destruction of the building several times, and the Museum Bureau also supported its protection. After decades of deterioration, Lasipalatsi was protected and renovated into a culture and media centre in 1998, also containing

café A coffeehouse, coffee shop, or café is an establishment that primarily serves coffee of various types, notably espresso, latte, and cappuccino. Some coffeehouses may serve cold drinks, such as iced coffee and iced tea, as well as other non ...

s and many corporations in the media business. The building also hosted

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

services and exhibition halls. The

Yleisradio Yleisradio Oy (Finnish, literally "General Radio Ltd." or "General Broadcast Ltd."; abbr. Yle ; sv, Rundradion Ab, italics=no), translated to English as the Finnish Broadcasting Company, is Finland's national public broadcasting company, founde ...

Morning TV used to be broadcast from Lasipalatsi, and next to it was the Yle Shop. The film theatre Bio Rex is specialised in showing non-mainstream cultural films. Lasipalatsi has been included in the selection of Finnish masterpieces of modernism in architecture by the

Docomomo International Docomomo International (sometimes written as DoCoMoMo or simply Docomomo) is a non-profit organization whose full title is: International Committee for Documentation and Conservation of Buildings, Sites and Neighbourhoods of the Modern Movement. ...

organization. The building is undergoing extensive renovations as of October 2016. A new museum, Amos Rex, has been built under the Lasipalatsi square with some parts of the museum residing in Lasipalatsi.

Gallery

Image:Lasipalatsi cafe.jpg, Café, ground floor Image:Lasipalatsi interior.jpg, Staircase

References

External links

{{commonscat-inline, Lasipalatsi
Lasipalatsi home page
Buildings and structures in Helsinki Streamline Moderne architecture Modernist architecture in Finland Kamppi

History

Gallery

See also

References

External links