Ympyrätalo

The landmark ring-shaped building at the corner of Hakaniemi Square was the result of an invitational competition for an office and commercial building by Kansallis-Osake-Pankki in 1960. The round massing smoothly resolves traffic issues at a busy corner of the square and opens up the urban landscape where the square meets the Eläintarhanlahti park area. Thanks to the ring-shaped floor plan, the office floors with double corridors gained as much facade surface as possible, there are no corner rooms, and the area was flexibly divided among users. Structurally, the implementation is based on a standard concrete construction with no expansion joints needed due to the round shape. In the lower basement, we placed a parking garage, and on the ground floor, retail and storage spaces.