Comprised of mid-rise apartment buildings dating from the 1960s and early 1970s, Laajasalo district in eastern Helsinki is now being developed into a dense urban district to be connected to the city centre by a new bridge and tram route. Heka Koirasaarentie 36 is one of the new apartment buildings all along the forested eastern shoreline. Heka is the City of Helsinki’s real estate company. Their policy is to procure affordable accommodation for low-income tenants who live and work in Helsinki.

The design of the building is extremely cost-conscious and regulated. However, the project shows that perceptive architects can achieve fine results despite tight financial constraints.

Heka Koirasaarentie 36 was selected in the Finnish Architecture Biennial Review 2018. Extract from the jury report:

“The long block harmonizes both with the street front view and the beautifully landscaped courtyard with its natural rock and pine trees. There is nothing forced about the composition because the site plan is organically open. It respects the 1960s context but throws away the rigid and suppressive formal principles of modernist planning.”