Designed by JKMM Architects, the architecture of the new Academy of Fine Arts at Uniarts Helsinki celebrates imaginative integration of existing structures and pays tribute to the history of Sörnäinen, a post-industrial neighbourhood that is today alive with young urban life.
The design offers students of fine arts a contemporary makerspace that is generous, well-lit, and features clearly defined spaces that are communal and modifiable, thus providing opportunities for a wide range of art forms and ways of working.
The Academy of Fine Arts is named ‘Mylly,’ which is Finnish for Mill and references the building that previously stood on the site. A raw aesthetic with deep-set windows, fair-faced concrete, and brick elevations reflect this industrial past, while careful consideration of supporting structures and their longevity ensures the building is future-proofed for upcoming generations. Load-bearing facades and a rational slab-column frame will greatly facilitate change of use in the years to come.
Central to the five-storey space is a top-lit courtyard with steel staircase that dramatically cuts through the space diagonally from one level to the next. Students can be seen moving between studio and learning spaces via the feature stair. The ground level includes a gallery space accessible to the public while the roof level features a large outdoor terrace that can accommodate art exhibitions.
The new building engages with the Theatre Academy as well as the eastern seafront of the Helsinki downtown areas. The two academies are interconnected through an existing Modernist silo situated at the centre of the site. Theatre Academy – providing facilities for dance and theatre students housed within a former soap factory – was partly remodelled recently with JKMM’s input.
