Helsinki Central Station / Eliel Saarinen - 01

For many travelers visiting Finland, the first building they see after leaving the airport is Helsinki Central Station. I would like to write a little about this station building by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. (This text is a revised version of the commentary I contributed to the

Saarinen and Finland's Beautiful Architecture Exhibition.)

Helsinki Central Station, visited by many travelers from both within and outside the country, is composed of a U-shaped station building typical of a terminal station that surrounds the tracks and platforms, and an administrative office building attached to its east side.

At the base of the U-shape is a concourse connecting the east and west outdoor plazas, an entrance hall arranged orthogonally in the center, and waiting lobbies and cafes placed on both sides of the entrance hall. (The waiting lobbies and cafes have now been replaced by other functions.) The entrance hall, the symbol of the building, is the first public building in Finland made of reinforced concrete, and it is a space where the vaulted ceiling, lighting, and decorations are integrated. Because the delicate decorations are unified in beige along with the walls and ceiling, they appear very understated compared to the decorations of Saarinen's previous architecture, but for that very reason, the decorations act as shadows that accentuate the shape of the vault itself and the space.

The National Romantic exterior, which seemed reminiscent of medieval castles and churches in the design competition, was simplified due to the influence of modern rationalism by the time of its implementation, and the design was changed so that the vaulted shape of the entrance hall is expressed directly on the facade. The design competition for the new central station was held in 1903 due to the necessity arising from rapid urbanization and the increase in users in the late 19th century. The period from then until the building's completion in 1914 is the period on the eve of Finland's independence (1917).

"Finnishness" and "global trends", just as it corresponds to the situation of the country, Helsinki Central Station is a building that foreshadows the transition of Saarinen's, and Finland's, architecture from National Romanticism to modern rationalism.