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Music Centre nears completion

Hels ink i - i n fo Issue 2 – 2011 March 28

Contents

Open regional data

2 Open regional data2 Recycling in the

Cable Factory3 Music Centre nears

completion7 Itäkeskus

comprehensive school

8 Glossary9 Feeling at home in

Helsinki11 Big plans for

Hernesaari11 Haven without

brand?12 Brave women fill the

Sederholm House

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Open regional dataThe project includes building a web

service for fast and easy access to open data sources. Users can download infor-mation and use it in decision-making, utilise it in their applications, or develop entirely new services based on the information, to name just a few exam-ples.

The project is funded by the cities of Espoo, Helsinki, Vantaa and Kauniainen, and the Finnish Innovation Fund Sitra. The Finnish Ministry of Finance has given the project a municipality cooper-ation grant. Responsible for project planning, implementing sub-projects and coordination are City of Helsinki Urban Facts and Forum Virium Helsinki.www.hri.fi/en/

The Recycling factory event will take place in May in the giant Merikaapelihalli hall of the Cable Fac-tory and in the courtyard.

The family friendly event is designed to promote an ecological and sustainable lifestyle, targeting both adults and children. The exhibitors are busi-nesses and organizations that offer a comprehen-sive range of eco-design, home solutions and other expertise in the eco field.

The program includes fashion shows, Do-it-your-self recycling themed workshops and, of course,

Recycling in the Cable Factory

The Helsinki Region Infoshare is a project that aims to make regional information quickly and easily accessible to all. The data may be used by citizens, businesses, universities, academies, research facilities or municipal administration.

The data on offer is ready to be used freely at no cost. Open access to informa-tion can stimulate new services and busi-nesses in the area, and it may also advance research and development.

The data published during the project is mainly statistical, giving a comprehensive and diverse outlook on different urban phe-nomena, such as living conditions, econom-ics and well-being, employment and transport. A good proportion of the data material offered by the project is GIS based.

the highly popular Free of charge market (ilmaistori).

This yearly event was first organized in 2008 and in April 2010 it attracted already over 7,500 visitors and 100 exhibitors. Cable Factory, Tallberginkatu 1May 7–8, open at 10–17. Free admission.For more info www.kierrätystehdas.fi

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By Johanna Lemola

Helsinki Music Centre

A new era dawns in Helsinki’s classical music scene.

nears completion

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Helena Hiilivirta is the director of Helsinki Music Centre.

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A mid growing excitement about the new music hall, Helena Hiilivirta

envisions increased and focused classical music offering in the

capital region, looking to reach out to new audiences.

“This is exactly it!” exclaims Helsinki Music Centre Director Helena Hiilivirta when asked

about the role of the new centre society. “Everybody wants to come here.”

Six months before the centre’s official opening on the last day

of August, the visitor calendar on Hiilivirta’s office wall is full and includes groups that repre-sent society across the board, from women’s organizations to industry delegations. Her phone rings constantly.

“Now we must turn this excite-ment for music,” she says, point-ing out the task ahead – to widen the audience base and increase overall interest in classi-cal music with the help of the new, magnificent facilities.

Culture to embrace everybody Hiilivirta overlooks Helsinki Music Centre from her office in construction yard barracks. The vast structure is only the tip of the iceberg – the visible part is one-third of the whole building, most of which is below ground.

The journey to this point, where final touches are being put to the interior, has been equally vast. The past fifteen

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years have seen many complications including fights with civic organizations about the site, but now all that is history.

“The world has changed over these years,” Hiilivirta says. “Overall apprecia-tion for culture has increased, and the concept of culture is now broader. People no longer see classical music as some-thing elitist. Proof is the valuable citizen activity we’re seeing here.”

New opportunities for orchestras and audiencesHelsinki Music Centre will be increasing the classical music offering in the Helsinki region, but essentially the centre will focus the offering.

In addition to hosting its regular tenants, the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, Finn-ish Radio Symphony Orchestra and Sibel-ius Academy, Helsinki Music Centre will give a world-class venue for many Helsinki region ensembles that have been playing in churches and halls primarily not designed for classical music. The centre will also host orchestras from outside the Helsinki region. As a result, the local audi-ence will have easier access to a broad offering of classical music.

The Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra, which has been playing at Finlandia Hall on Wednesdays and Thursdays, will disperse its performances more evenly throughout the week, offering perform-

Ensuring ideal sound environmentAs a sign of the fundamental importance of the sound environment to any music hall, but hotly watched in the case of Helsinki Music Hall, the acoustician was chosen before the architectural competition.

“This can’t be bungled up!” Helena Hiilivirta recalls herself saying as a member of the jury and, at that time, Manager of the Finnish Radio Sym-phony Orchestra.

“I called Esa-Pekka Salonen, Music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic,” she continues. Salonen played an important role in the development of Dis-ney Hall, Los Angeles’s celebrated music hall, which was under construction at the time. Disney Hall had chosen Nagata Acoustics of Japan, led by Yasuhisa Toyota, as their acoustics designer.

Nagata Acoustics also won the acoustics design contract for Helsinki Music Hall.

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The winning proposal in the 1999 open international archi-tectural competition on Helsinki Music Centre was “a mezza voce” by LPR-architects Ltd of Turku, Finland.

The musical term mezza voce is a directive to perform a passage of music in a quiet or restrained manner and reflects the overall philosophy of the building. The concept of a mezza voca harmo-nizes with and unifies the com-position of the Töölö Bay area.

The tallest sections of the Music Centre are clad in green patinated copper and connect the building with the green park belt. The glazed foyer, revealing

ances on Tuesdays and on week-ends every other week.

The Finnish Radio Symphony Orchestra will gain a great deal, securing a regular venue for themselves and able to play more, also repeating concerts. The orchestra’s better opportuni-ties to broadcast will benefit all of Finland.

Sibelius Academy will now reach audiences much easier than before.

A good citizenDuring the one-hour interview, Hiilivirta took two phonecalls from Finland’s biggest media, journalists calling insistent to find out when the main hall’s acous-tics would be tested – one of the main original arguments for building a new music hall in Hel-sinki was the poor acoustics of Finlandia Hall. She kept repeating that testing is impossible before the hall is fully finished.

No doubt the acoustics will be a hot topic of discussion once the concert season gets under-way. Another major topic may well be building architecture.

“We decidedly went for a low-profile solution which gives space to the surrounding, impressive buildings at this very demanding site,” Hiilivirta explains. She was a member of the jury that picked the winning proposal from among 243 entries to the international archi-tectural competition.

The building doesn’t rise above the rooftops of its neighbours, and the green, copper skin helps to blend the building into its natural environment.

A “citizens’ piazza” in front of the building represents the over-all philosophy of Helsinki Music Centre – living harmoniously in its environment, open to every-body, promoting democracy. Like a good citizen.

No “wow architecture”: a mezza voce

the building interior, links the centre to the contemporary buildings to the south and east. A sloped, landscaped deck links the centre with the green area to the south. Parliament House is a key element of the composi-tion, facing the main entrance to the concert hall foyer.

The vineyard-style main concert hall opens to the surrounding foyer and lobby areas via sound-insulat-ing glass walls, achieving a sense of openness. The main hall seats 1,708. The centre also houses five smaller concert halls. The class-rooms and offices of Sibelius Acad-emy are grouped on seven floors on the north side of the building.

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Two-thirds of the 460 students of the Itäkeskus Comprehensive School in eastern Helsinki follow a foreign language track where they take up German or French in the third grade and English as their second foreign language in the fourth grade.

“The students come from diverse backgrounds,” says the school’s rector Matti Raikunen. “Many of them are children of immigrants who have come to Helsinki seeking for jobs.”

Itäkeskus Comprehensive School: More than thirty languages are spoken at the Itäkeskus Comprehensive School, which puts a special focus on foreign language training and international skills.

Cosmopolitan outlookBy Päivi Arvonen

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Studying math in the fourth grade. Telhl Mohamood (on the right) and Eemeli Vihervuori.

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“Some of the students have acquired a foreign language skill during a foreign post of their parents and are here to uphold their skill.”

The school’s students speak 34 languages between them. Native language training is provided in ten languages, comprising Sami, Russian, Chinese, Farsi, Somali, Nepali, Kurdish, Albanian, Urdu and Filipino.

Their rich language palette is utilized by the school on many occasions such as at a special language event on the UN Day and in start-of-day ceremonies. The school’s students have demonstrated their

language skills on the Itäkeskus Piazza during the European Day of Languages, which takes place on 26 September.

“Helsinki and the citizens of the city have turned their eyes to Europe and further,” says Deputy Rector Kirsti Santaholma. “Our students acquire skills that help them to live and work in the global community. Our everyday international contexts broaden their thinking and give them new perspec-tive. We are already living a reality that is still only to come elsewhere in Finland.”

Glossary

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Translated by Johanna Lemola

Chemistry lesson. From the left: Nadja Ahlgren, Meeri Kettunen, Sumeja Omar, Amanda Björn and Tiia Heino.

English Finnish

Language kieli

Comprehensiveschool peruskoulu

International kansainvälinen

Background tausta

Sami saame

Russian venäjä

Chinese kiina

UN(UnitedNations) YK(Yhdistyneet kansakunnat)

Europe Eurooppa

September syyskuu

DeputyRector apulaisrehtori

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“Helsinki is a real gem, and I feel perfectly at home here. I’m particularly attracted to the cleanliness and greenness here, as well as to nature and the way people and animals coexist in harmony. There are few cities where one can constantly run into animals like rabbits, birds, pheasants and even owls.”

These are words of Lebanese media entrepreneur Ghadi Boustani.

Helsinki’s pride of its 450-year history makes him smile a bit. “My home town Byblos goes back over 7000 years,” he says.

“Lebanon has many problems but also a great deal of civiliza-tion. I think civilization is deter-mined by how people live their lives and treat their fellow citi-zens.”

Boustani adjusted to life in Helsinki soon after his arrival in 1998.

Feeling at home

Ghadi Boustani has well adjusted to life in Helsinki and offers advice to other immigrants on how to do it.

Ghadi Boustani urges all foreigners in Finland to learn Finnish. “You can get by in English in Helsinki, but without Finnish you can’t under-stand the Finns and the culture. Lan-guage is the key to people’s hearts.”

HelsinkiBy Päivi Arvonen

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family, part of the Christian minority, internal refugees. Bous-tani moved to the Soviet Union to study cinema in 1990 and graduated as a director in 1996.

“I was fascinated about the Russian language and culture. I picked up the language easily, and when I speak with Russians today, I feel myself Russian. When I chat with Finns, I feel myself a Finn.”

“During my childhood in Leba-non, I knew about Finland only that it was a clean Scandinavian country with plenty of good milk.”

The Finnish drinking culture keeps amazing him.

“My home country has been producing wine for the past five thousand years. In Lebanon and in many other countries it’s shameful to be seen drunk, but Finns boast about their drinking and making fools of themselves. I wish people could define and recognize their limits, so society and authorities wouldn’t have to guard and control them.”

Learning Finnish from TV showsBoustani’s native language is Arabic, but his family also used French at home and he went to school in French. His childhood was shadowed by the war that started in 1975 and made his

The young man’s dream about fame in his country’s film industry didn’t come true because there were no good opportunities for him. In 1998 Boustani moved to Finland with a Finnish girlfriend. Today he’s married to a Russian woman. His home language is Russian, but he communicates fluently in Finnish, too.

“I learned Finnish by watching The Bold and the Beautiful and

other simple TV shows, which taught me words. I never studied Finnish formally and my gram-mar isn’t perfect, but I can understand Finnish well and the Finns understand me.”

Boustani began his profes-sional career in Finland upon his arrival by photographing an acquaintance for the local news-paper. As his work experience, Finnish language skills and cul-tural understanding grew, he approached The Finnish Broad-casting Company YLE.

“I’ve been freelancing for YLE for 12 years by now. I’ve been flexible and done many things – directed, done camera, produced and anchored. I don’t have to be the boss and feel at ease in other roles. I believe flexibility is a good approach for other immi-grants, too, as they seek jobs and move on in the work life.”

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Translated by Johanna Lemola

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Helsinki has big plans for Hernesaari area and its cruise ship harbour. The harbour receives about 300,000 cruise passengers each year.

The new plans include services for this huge potential clientele from summer 2011 onwards, comprising a waterbus quay, a square for happenings, a guiding system and walkways. Entrepreneurs are invited for design saunas and an art wall.

Waterbus service from the new quay will provide cruise passengers more alternatives to reach the Helsinki Market Square in the city centre and the Suomenlinna sea for-tress. There will be a mobile service to guides the visitors.

Booths and containers on the Hernesaari square will be rented to vendors. There

are plans for a “workshop village” next to an industrial hall, which could also serve vendors as well as providing space for small studios.

The square will host various events. For example, Hernesaari will be the home base of European sailing championships in the summer of 2011, expected to attract one thousand participants and tens of thousands of spectators.

Avanto Architects have produced a plan for modern wooden saunas on the Her-nesaari waterfront available for citizens and visitors throughout the year. Another plan involves a 170-metre-long art wall on an industrial hall.

Big plans for Hernesaari

Hernesaari now (left) and in the future.

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A recent study addresses the position of the Cen-tral Baltic Sea region in the global race for Asian talent. From the global perspective, the Central Baltic Sea region is fairly small and its history as a destination for highly skilled migrants is brief.

The number of Asian students and professionals is steadily rising in Finland and in Sweden, while the Asian migration to Latvia and Estonia is still minimal. From the point of view of skilled Asians the main strengths of Finland and Sweden are excellent quality of living and education and the appeal of welfare state. However, the region is unknown in Asia and offers only limited career prospects, in addition to which the interviewees suffered often from social exclusion.

There is clearly a need to brand the Baltic Sea region in Asia, but, unless combined with local actions assuring that the promises to the migrants will be kept, branding remains insufficient.

Maija Merimaa, Iina Oilinki: Haven without a brand. City of Helsinki Urban Facts Study reports 2010:8www.hel.fi/tietokeskus

Haven without brand?

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The National Council of Women of Finland celebrates its 100th anniversary with the exhibition “Women’s Rooms – Lives and Actions”, which tells the story of gender equality in Finland. It shows the decades of hard work to provide Finnish women with a room of their own, a rightful place in society.

The Helsinki City Museum is celebrating its hundredth anni-versary this year just like the National Council of Women of

Brave women fill the Sederholm House

Finland. The Sederholm House, completed in 1757, is the oldest building in Helsinki city centre. Its atmospheric rooms now present both well-known and forgotten women and their cou-rageous actions to improve the position of women.

In the late 19th century, Finnish women started to get organised, establishing associations aiming at the improvement of women’s circumstances and rights in vari-ous areas of life and society. The persistent work soon began to bear fruit. In 1906, Finnish

women became the first in Europe to be granted the right to vote and stand for election.

Gender equality progressed quickly in the decades after the war, particularly from the 1970s onwards. Equality was reinforced by many laws, and in politics and elsewhere women advanced to the top of society.

Sederholm House, Aleksanterinkatu 18 Open 9 March–28 August, Wed–Sun 11–17, Thu 11–19 Free entry

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Helsinki Info is a printed newspaper published by the City of Helsinki and distributed to all Helsinki households six times a year. Helsinki Info’s English Supplement resembles the main publication in format but is published online on the City Website, also six times a year.

Next issue 30.5.2011

Publisher: City of Helsinki www.hel.fi

Editor-in-Chief: Rita Ekelund Phone (+358 9) 310 36074 City of Helsinki, Communications P.O. Box 1 FI-00099 City of Helsinki, Finland Graphic design: Guassi Oy

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