A masterpiece of concrete construction and a pioneer in a unique facade and energy solution. In Helsinki Postipuisto area was completed in August a new-age car park, which Keski-Suomen Betonirakenne Oy built for the Housing Production of Helsinki.

The first parking garage in the Helsinki Postipuisto area, which had already attracted a lot of attention during the construction phase, was completed in mid-August. The building, which rose to the intersection of the lively Metsäläntie and Veturitie roads in Pasila, does not fall into the traditional parking garage formulas but is a pioneer not only in its appearance but also in its functionality.

First, the slatted façade of the building is an impressive sight. It consists of diamond fans in seven different colours with a fire-painted aluminum surface. Simo Särkelä, KSBR’s director responsible for the parking business, says that the reflection of light on the slat wall makes it look uneven, even though the wall surface is flat.

– The building has a total slat wall of 3,500 square meters, and the slats are made in Finland, Särkelä says.

The slatted wall looks like a light element

In the dark, the slatted wall beautifully reflects the light coming from inside the parking garage – as if the corner staircase were made of light elements. However, this is not the case. According to Särkelä, the house is also never completely dark, but the light effects placed on the walls light up randomly at different times of the day at the intersection of Metsäläntie and Veturitie. Photo by Henry Nyman

High quality concrete surface across the board

In the eyes of professionals, the concrete surfaces of the Postipuisto car park are of exceptional quality. KSBR has made about 12,000 square meters of in-situ casting there.

– KSBR’s long and solid experience in concrete construction and uncompromising work ethic produced the end result, which is particularly good in this building, Särkelä says.

The car park offers parking spaces for residents of the Postipuisto area, and driving in as well as getting around the hall has been made easy. The signs are clear and there are enough of them.

The colours are also visible on the inside

Hall users can also enjoy the colourful slatted façade indoors. The colourful elements appear there and liven up the environment.

434 parking spaces on five floors

The Postipuisto car park will have a total of 434 parking spaces, 48 of which are currently equipped with electric car charging plugs. As electric cars become more common, it is easy to increase the number.

Continuous ascending ramp between floors

The parking spaces are on five floors on a so-called continuous ascending ramp and are intended for use by residents of nearby houses.

Yard and street parking are hardly being built in new residential areas, but are increasingly being replaced by regional parking facilities. Halls are usually built in good places in the middle of residential areas, and therefore, according to Särkelä, more attention is paid to their appearance.

There is a small prefabricated building inside the hall

Not all specialties of the Postipuisto car park are visible on top. On the lowest floor of the hall, KSBR built an approximately 200-square-meter prefabricated building as the City of Helsinki’s property maintenance service facilities. The two-storey space is located inside a cast-in-place hall building and, according to Särkelä, is a kind of box in a box solution.

The fact that directly below the hall is the service tunnel of the energy company Helen also brought its own challenge to the construction.

Oat motor slats influenced by an oat field

The hall’s stairwells have impressive views of the surroundings, here directly to Metsäläntie.

At the design stage, the name of the parking garage was Oat motor. The ochre-coloured colour scheme is influenced by an oat field. This is well suited for the old rural area.

Bearded reedlings in the stone grille

The beautiful patterns of the gratings of the stone foot smoke outlets can be seen on the Kollikatu side.

Oatspike can also be seen in the grate of the hall’s stone foot, which also shows a rare bird species in Finland, the bearded reedling. There is colour in the building elsewhere than in the wall grilles, as the foundation walls are cast in coloured concrete. It contains iron oxide, which darkens the concrete to a shade of gray-green.

The layers are easy to identify

The stairwells have a clear look, and the effect colours make it easy to identify the layers. The eye-catcher will also find creative use of colours there, as the groove elements of the stairwell are tinted in the shade of umbra in brown.

On the roof of a new building solar power pilot

Postipuisto’s parking facility is the first of its kind in Helsinki’s Housing production car park, where a solar power plant will be built on the sedum roof of the new building. All the energy used by the house is obtained during the summer on sunny days from its own solar power plant.

The sedum grows on the roof, and the solar panel field is exceptionally large: 226 panels come in. Currently, the field occupies half of the roof area, but it is possible to expand the area up to twice in the future.

Visuality and functionality in one package

Simo Särkelä is particularly pleased that the functionality of the car park is top notch.

– In addition to the parking spaces, the city’s property maintenance facilities as well as the energy company’s service tunnel, as well as all the necessary facilities, such as the transformer, the Electricity Central Center, the water roof solar power plant and the green roof, were effectively accommodated, Särkelä says.

KSBR built the Postipuisto parking facility for the Housing Production of Helsinki. The building was designed by L Arkkitehdit Oy and the structures by SRT Oy. STM-Infra Oy was responsible for the civil engineering information on the site, Sähkö-Virel Oy for LVISA work and Metek Oy for the facades.

Photos by Suvi Suovaara