Arabiankatu 8 is an apartment building in Helsinki’s Arabianranta district. With its thirteen stories and 65 apartments in addition to common facilities and commercial spaces, the building presents a solid case for the virtues of light and a straightforward argument fulfilling the basic requirements of urban living.

The floor plans of the apartments are sensible and pragmatic in design with special effort put in offering long views out of the apartment door and sizing the rooms with flexible furnishing solutions in mind. The key features of the Arabianranta residential district are its unprejudiced approach to mixing functions, testing new housing concepts, harnessing local resources, referencing the district’s industrial history, and using public art as an integral element of its urban architecture.

The Arabiankatu 8 building has an airy, light-filled staircase featuring an art piece by Aimo Katajamäki. The building has no private outdoor spaces, but the shared roof terraces and the common courtyard system offer an intriguing, progressive concept for further development.

Arabiankatu 8 was selected in the Finnish Architecture Biennial Review 2018.