Espoo House

The Espoo House is a hybrid municipal building, that will serve as a hub for decision-makers, city employees and residents in the Finnish city of Espoo – the country’s second largest city and part of the Helsinki Metropolitan Area. The project is centered around the use of timber, continuing Finland’s rich tradition of wooden construction. The building is conceived with a load-bearing mass timber structure that minimizes the use of material and offers high flexibility and easy adaptation. The Espoo House will serve as the new public heart of the city. With a mix of workspaces and public areas distributed throughout the entire building, it will promote social encounters and multi-purpose spaces for a wide range of public events and activities.

Espoo House’s ground floor is an open and flexible extension of the public outdoor spaces. The public spaces extend inward and then vertically within the building, and up to the top-most level, providing flexible and diverse meeting places for all. The atrium also allows natural light to fill the central parts of the building.

Espoo House will be built primarily of timber. The wooden structure offers flexibility for different layouts on each floor, enabling easy adaptation to the building’s evolving needs over time – extending the building’s life cycle and usability.

The top floor houses a public multi-purpose hall and winter garden, providing an ideal setting for large public events with expansive views over the city and surrounding landscape.