Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall, one of the most anticipated buildings, is about to reopen

Since it was closed to the public for renovation in 2022, Helsinki's Finlandia Hall has been one of the most anticipated buildings of recent years. The original design was by the master of Nordic modernism, Alvar Aalto, a Finnish architect, designer and urban planner who designed the building in the final phase of his career. In fact, Finlandia Hall was part of a larger master plan for the city that Aalto began designing in the early 1960s, but which was never realised.  Today, Arkkitehdit Nrt's restoration and renovation project preserves the majestic and organic character of the work while improving its condition. The first was to restore the building to its optimum condition, a process that required a thorough restoration of the elements of Aalto's organic architecture, with the replacement of the Carrara marble on the facades - which had been put to the test by the harsh climate - and the treatment of the interior surfaces and furnishings, which were carefully restored to their original beauty. Then there was the need to renovate the building, both from an environmental point of view, to reduce emissions and increase the energy efficiency of the systems, and in terms of the functional programme, which almost sixty years later, despite Aalto's innovative and flexible spatial solutions, had become obsolete.  

Arkkitehdit Nrt has therefore redistributed some of the more than 30,000 square metres of floor space, converting the old warehouses and cloakrooms into exhibition spaces and introducing a cafeteria and restaurant that will be open to the public from the summer of 2025.