The Taka-Töölö neighbourhood, developed between the 1920s and 1930s, is one-half of the erstwhile district of Töölö conceived to offset the growing population and housing shortage in the city of Helsinki, Finland. Located next to the city centre and occupying the western side of the Helsinki Peninsula, the neighbourhood was designed by a group of Finnish architects and evolved as a combination of classical urban planning schemes characterised by tall lines of Nordic Classicist buildings along wide, curved boulevards; and Viennese city planner Camillo Sitte’s concept of City Planning According to Artistic Principles, manifested as picturesque streets and squares. The proliferation of modernist Functionalism throughout Europe in the early 20th century also left a lasting mark on the architectural identity of this small Nordic neighbourhood. An example of this influence is the Taivallahti barracks, which, built before the Second World War, included troop barracks, a garage, and repair workshop buildings. These structures served as the base for the Army’s motor car company until 2003, after which the site remained largely unused. To the south of the barracks, on a plot designated for new construction, the curving form of Meander, a 180-metre-long residential block, weaves its way across the site.

The apartment building, commissioned through an international invitation-only competition and won by Steven Holl Architects in 2006, had its Grand Opening during Helsinki Design Week in 2024. The project, which started in collaboration with local Finnish architect Vesa Honkonen, was later taken over by Pentti Kareoja from ARK-house Arkkitehdit when Finnish property developer Newil&Bau assumed control in 2021. Under Newil&Bau's direction, the design was enhanced with thoughtfully designed yard spaces, curated interiors, and various resident-centric services. The meandering residential block sits to the east of the site—a courtyard-like rectangular void in the urban block—carving out smaller, irregular-shaped voids across the barracks plot. To optimise vantage points and provide ample natural light for 115 apartments, the building gradually ascends from two to seven floors from south to north, with units oriented east-west - the former facing the Baltic Sea and the latter overlooking the Hesperianpuisto Park.

An American architect of Norwegian descent, Steven Holl shares a profound connection with Helsinki and Alvar Aalto, whose buildings permeate the city’s urban scape at large, and Taka-Töölö’s in particular. With his partner Elissa Aalto, the Finnish architect has a diverse body of work (both built and unbuilt) in the neighbourhood, encompassing town-planning schemes to purist Miesian buildings, and unique redbrick projects. Holl, an ardent admirer of Alto’s work, received the Alvar Aalto Award in 1998 and returned to Helsinki after his celebrated design of the Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art in the city in 1997.

The Organic Modernism practised by Aalto lies on the spectrum between Functionalism and a peculiar Finnish vernacular, which so distinguishes Aalto’s design language. Emerging organically as a reaction to the place and time, his work is further characterised by the use of locally sourced natural materials, wave-like forms, and a plan generated from a functional rationale. Meander’s sculptural form is reminiscent of this Organic Modernism, generated from a functional diagram embodying, both, the architectonics of music as a formal concept, as well as a pragmatic distinction between mass and void to optimise for natural light and views.

An intermittent sequence of load-bearing concrete walls, horizontally hinged glazed movable panels, and sustainably sourced Finnish spruce wood panels establish a consistent rhythm, echoing the allegorical musical score represented in the meandering curvature of the building. The resultant footprint on the ground breaks the site into proportionate courtyards vis-à-vis the mass, while the orientation of its extruded mass affords not only morning and evening light into the spaces within but also panoramic views.

As Holl explained to STIR, “Along the meander curve, cross walls of structure create a regular rhythm that plays out in the void space created in the landscape. The “wooden ship in a bottle” feeling of the thin moveable glass elevations can be tuned by the users. The architecture has a condition in spaces like the condition of time in a musical sequence.”

Across the building block, three service cores give access to the floors above, while a ramp to the south serves as the entrance to the basement below, which houses the parking with charging stations, a wine cellar, and a cinema for the residents. The apartment types, including lofts, family units, and city apartments, range in size from 22.5 sqm to 218.5 sqm and are organised in a layout typified by the plan in hotel architecture, with units arranged linearly along a single or double-loaded corridor. Internally, each unit adheres to the hotel typology, with the facilities positioned on one side of the entrance and a short passageway leading to the main space. Other common spaces include saunas, yoga studios, and common leisure and co-working spaces.

The building is fitted with 16 geothermal wells and radiant flooring in each unit, along with solar panels on the roof garden and smart building automation, resulting in an active reduction of its overall lifecycle emissions.

Passively though, an east-west orientation coupled with west-facing balconies, and a glass envelope fails to optimise solar gain, likely rendering it quite literally an ice sculpture in the humid continental climate of Helsinki.

The distinctly Finnish Organic Modernist character of Aalto’s work represents the culmination of a design journey that began with Nordic Classicism and evolved through the Eurocentric functionalism of the International Style. His later works reflect a refined synthesis of functionalist modernism with a more flexible, human-centred vernacular, drawing inspiration from the local context and fostering a deeper connection to nature through the use of natural materials, particularly brick. In this context, Meander, while visually striking and sculpturally dynamic, lacks the robust softness of Aalto's monumental redbrick masses. The lived experience within the building, shaped by a spatial layout akin to the hotel typology—characterised by a linear arrangement of units along corridors and an emphasis on shared amenities—fosters a streamlined, service-oriented environment that underscores the starkness of a functionalist Internationalism.  Its sleek, curvilinear form, glass facades, and lighter materials offer a more international, minimalist aesthetic, missing the tactile warmth and grounded connection to the Finnish landscape that defined Aalto's later works. 

Project Details

Name: Meander
Location: Helsinki, Finland
Typology: Housing
Client: City of Helsinki, Newil&Bau
Architect: Steven Holl Architects, Local Architect: ARK-house Architects
Design Team:
Steven Holl (design architect)
Noah Yaffe (partner in charge)
JongSeo Lee (project architect, senior associate)
Alfonso Simelio, Okki Berendschot, Hannah Ahlblad, Sungjoon Chae, Yiqing Zhao (project team)
Area: 7,500 sq.m.
Year of Completion: 2024