Eliel Square

The Eliel Square (Finnish: Elielinaukio, Swedish: Elielplatsen) is a square on the west side of the Helsinki Central Station in the heart of Helsinki, Finland. It is named after the railway station designer Eliel Saarinen. The square is for the most part the departure and arrival platforms for regional buses.

Aerial view of the Eliel Square right next to the Helsinki Central Station.

At the northern end of the square is the Holiday Inn Hotel and at the southern end is the restaurant Vltava. On the west side are the Main Post Office and Sanomatalo. [1]

History

On the site of the square used to be a small railway yard, an express luggage wing, which served as a kind of wholesale arrangement area.[1][2] After its demolition, the area was used as a parking space.[3] The new town plan south of Töölönlahti was completed in 1996, and it also included the Eliel Square.[1] The area then passed into city ownership in accordance with an agreement between the city and the country.[1]

New Eliel

The New Eliel (Finnish: Uusi Eliel; Swedish: Nya Eliel) is a project launched in 2017, in which the square will be developed, among other things, through new construction.[4] Construction can be a business, operational, service and cultural space,[5] but it should take into account the historical nature of the area and preserve the Vltava building, which is more than a hundred years old.[6][7] The upper limit of the building height is about 44 meters above sea level, i.e. the construction must not be higher than the Post Office. The area enables the creation of new jobs in the city center with good public transport connections.[5] The project is also intended to develop the flow of pedestrian traffic around the railway station.[8] The total construction target in the planning area was initially 40,000 square meters,[9] but it has since been decided to reduce the volume target for the project by about a quarter.[10]

An international architectural competition was held at the end of 2020 to develop Eliel and also the adjacent Railway Square,[5] of which five proposals for the competition were announced in March 2021.[9][11]

References
  1. Lindqvist, Mikko (May 5, 2021). "Uusi Eliel –arkkitehtuurikilpailu – rakennus- ja kulttuurihistoriallinen näkökulma" (in Finnish). Helsinki City Museum. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  2. "Ortokuva 1976" (in Finnish). Helsingin karttapalvelu. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  3. "Ortokuva 1988" (in Finnish). Helsingin karttapalvelu. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  4. Bäckgren, Noona (August 15, 2020). "Helsingin Elielinaukio aiotaan myllätä täysin uusiksi – Sijoittaja kertoo nyt suunnitelmista, jotka saattavat jättää Rautatieasemankin varjoonsa". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  5. "Elielinaukion ja Asema-aukion kehittämiseksi järjestetään kansainvälinen arkkitehtuurikilpailu – hanke on osa laajempaa Rautatieaseman seudun kehittämistä" (in Finnish). City of Helsinki. August 24, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  6. "Helsingin Elielinaukion ja Asema-aukion arkkitehtuurikilpailu on alkanut". Projektiuutiset (in Finnish). November 20, 2020. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  7. Bäckgren, Noona; Paananen, Veera (November 18, 2020). "Helsingin keskustasta saatetaan sulkea autoilta kokonainen katu – Helsingin valtapuolueet erimielisiä suunnitelman todennäköisyydestä". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  8. "Elielinaukion ja Asema-aukion arkkitehtuurikilpailun ehdotukset valmistuivat". Rakennuslehti (in Finnish). March 12, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  9. Bäckgren, Noona (March 12, 2021). ""Katsoin ensin, että apua" – HS julkaisee massiiviset suunnitelmat Helsingin ytimen muuttamiseksi". Helsingin Sanomat (in Finnish). Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  10. "Elielinaukion ja Asema-aukion arkkitehtuurikilpailussa edetään toiseen vaiheeseen". Uusi Eliel (in Finnish). June 15, 2021. Retrieved September 30, 2021.
  11. "Elielinaukion ja Asema-aukion alue uudistuu – kerro mielipiteesi kilpailuehdotuksista". kerrokantasi.hel.fi (in Finnish). City of Helsinki. Retrieved September 30, 2021.

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