Pikku Huopalahti ( sv, Lillhoplax) is a

neighbourhood A neighbourhood (British English, Irish English, Australian English and Canadian English) or neighborhood (American English; American and British English spelling differences, see spelling differences) is a geographically localised community ...

in the West 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 ...

between the Ruskeasuo neighbourhood and

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 ...

(one of the main streets in Helsinki) in the east, the Meilahti neighborhood in the South, the Niemenmäki neighborhood and Huopalahdentie street in the West and the Vihdintie street and Etelä-Haaga neighborhood in the North. The neighborhood name means in Finnish 'Tiny Felt Bay' (after the original name in Swedish, Lillhoplax, was phonetically but inaccurately translated into Huopalahti in Finnish), with a bay of the same name forming most of the neighborhood edge on its West side, surrounded by a large park. This bay extends out to the Gulf of Finland. Most of the housing in Pikku Huopalahti is residential apartment building, primarily built in the 1990s. Pikku Huopalahti is home to around 10.000 people. Punamaenpolku 1 February 17 2009

As a neighborhood of Helsinki, Pikku Huopalahti finds itself as a Sui generis. Helsinki's subdivision system uniquely divides Pikku Huopalahti as belonging to 3 separate city districts. The southern part belongs to the

Meilahti Meilahti (in Swedish Mejlans) is a neighbourhood of Helsinki between Mannerheimintie (the main entrance road to Helsinki) and a bay named Seurasaarenselkä. Most of the houses in Meilahti were built in the 1930s and 1940s. Meilahti is home to ove ...

district and is numbered 1505. The eastern part belongs to the

Ruskeasuo Ruskeasuo (Brunakärr in Swedish, verbatim "Brown swamp") is a neighbourhood of Helsinki (Helsingfors in Swedish), about 3 kilometres north of the city center. With a population of 2670 (year 2005) Ruskeasuo is a rather quiet residential area. ...

district and is numbered 1602 and the rest of Pikku Huopalahti belongs to the

Haaga Haaga ( sv, Haga köping) is a district and a former municipality in the Western major district of Helsinki with a population of 25,435.http://www.hel2.fi/tietokeskus/helsinki_alueittain_2005/203Haaga.pdf 2005 statistics about Haaga Haaga is d ...

district and is numbered 2916. The headquarters of

McDonald's McDonald's Corporation is an American multinational fast food chain, founded in 1940 as a restaurant operated by Richard and Maurice McDonald, in San Bernardino, California, United States. They rechristened their business as a hambur ...

Finland is located in Pikku Huopalahti on Paciuksenkatu, in a large cylindrical building designed by Heikkinen-Komonen architects. The final stop on Helsinki's 10

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport are ...

is also located in Pikku Huopalahti. The 4 tram travels on Paciuksenkatu to the south of Pikku Huopalahti on its way to

Munkkiniemi Munkkiniemi ( sv, Munksnäs, Helsinki slang: ''Munkka'') is a neighbourhood in Helsinki. Subdivisions within the district are Vanha Munkkiniemi, Kuusisaari, Lehtisaari, Munkkivuori, Niemenmäki and Talinranta. The land in Munkkiniemi was from th ...

but never actually enters the neighborhood. The

University of Helsinki The University of Helsinki ( fi, Helsingin yliopisto, sv, Helsingfors universitet, abbreviated UH) is a public research university located in Helsinki, Finland since 1829, but founded in the city of Turku (in Swedish ''Åbo'') in 1640 as the ...

has its Department of Dentistry, Institute for Oral Health, Department of Public Health and Department of Forensic Medicine campus in the North East corner of Pikku Huopalahti. As of 2015 the university has decided to relocate its facilities, so the existing buildings will be torn down and the City of Helsinki has prepared an area plan draft to redevelop the area. The neighborhood is also known as having a 'Legoland' effect because the buildings, mostly constructed in the past 20 years, all prominently display basic geometric patterns such as circles, squares, and triangles on the residential housing. Also, the use of light pastel colors, mostly white, light blue, and turquoise, make Pikku Huopalahti a very distinct neighborhood compared to the other neighborhoods to the north and west that have more traditional housing stock from the 1940s and 1950s. The architecture and urban layout is said to reflect criticisms of

modernism Modernism is both a philosophy, philosophical and arts movement that arose from broad transformations in Western world, Western society during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. The movement reflected a desire for the creation of new fo ...

present in the "Oulu school" of architecture often associated with

Reima and Raili Pietilä Frans Reima Ilmari Pietilä (25 August 1923 – 26 August 1993) was a Finnish architect and theorist. He did most of his work together with his wife Raili Pietilä (Raili Inkeri Marjatta née Paatelainen, 15 August 1926 – 16 May 2021); after 19 ...

. City districts partly forming and/or surrounding Pikku-Huopalahti are

Munkkivuori Munkkivuori ( sv, Munkshöjden, literally 'Monk Mountain') is a Subdivisions of Helsinki#Neighbourhoods, quarter of the Munkkiniemi neighbourhood in Helsinki. The buildings and the plan of site are typical of the late 1950s. Most of the residential ...

, Niemenmäki,

Etelä-Haaga Etelä-Haaga (Finnish), Södra Haga (Swedish) is a neighborhood of Helsinki, Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with S ...

and

Gallery

File:Pikku Huopalahti.jpg, Pikku Huopalahti neighbourhood, view from Paciuksenkadun silta (bridge on Paciuksenkatu). File:Pikku Huopalahti Helsinki Finland McDonalds.jpg File:Typical Pikku Huopalahti residential building.jpg File:Housing estate in Pikku Huopalahti.jpg File:Elementary school in Pikku Huopalahti.jpg

External links

{{coord, 60, 11, N, 024, 54, E, region:FI_type:city_source:GNS-enwiki, display=title Meilahti Ruskeasuo Haaga