Viikki Church building:
Designed by JKMM Architects, The Parish Union of Helsinki and the City of Helsinki organized an architectural invite competition for downtown Viikki Latokartano in 2000 to find a functional solution that fits in with the cityscape in order to realize the area’s public services. JKMM?s winning design of Viikki Church includes church and parish halls for the local parish, offices, and clubrooms as well as the spaces that serve these.
These spaces gather the area’s inhabitants daily for regular activities and festivities. The building can accommodate 500 people at a time, approximately 400 of which can fit in the church space. The building will cover a gross area of 1,600 square meters and will have a volume of about 10,600 cubic meters. The fire category is the lowest one, P3. It has set as its goal the continuation of Finland’s high-quality tradition of church architecture. At the same time, the project is a trial project for the promotion of high-quality wooden construction. Construction began at the beginning of March 2004. The construction period of Viikki Church is about 16 months, including the grounds. The church is consecrated in September 2005.
Photography by © Jussi Tiainen
The theme derives from public spaces that are ‘imago mundi’, a picture of the world, and express our understanding of what is timeless, general, and common. An unseen reality and the life of a human being are expressed in the church space.
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