Ideas for the future of South Harbour

The 200 works submitted to the international ideas competition for the design of the Helsinki South Harbour have been published for commenting online. The residents can give their opinions about the works until 21 January 2012.

The task of the competitors was to create a comprehensive idea design for the 23 hectare shore zone of the South Harbour, based on which the city core area can be developed. Plenty of proposals were received, and the gamut of the works shows how many different ways the city centre and shore areas can be designed.

- There were even wild ideas, which are sure to raise discussion, describes Juha-Pekka Turunen, Interaction Designer at the Helsinki City Planning Department.

The South Harbour ideas competition organised as part of the World Design Capital programme was open to everyone, and it was hoped that the participants would form design teams consisting of specialists of different domains. The results of the competition, which ended in September, will be presented in spring 2012. In all EUR 165,000 will be distributed as prizes.

The central location of the South Harbour, the cultural history of the area, and passenger ports are an essential part of the identity of the city. The South Harbour is the national maritime scenery of Helsinki.

See the proposals online and in the exhibition

A single work is not expected to solve all the sub-areas of the challenging design task. Instead, usable ideas are sought from the works for different purposes. In online discussions the residents are encouraged to evaluate the functionality of the ideas and how the competitors have succeeded in their task.

You can give your opinion and vote for your favourite idea at www.kirjavasatama.fi.

You can also come and see the works at the exhibition organised by the City Planning Department's information and exhibition centre Laituri, starting December 15. The jury has picked 23 different, interesting works for the exhibition.