Mediacenter lume

Mediacenter lume
Address: Hämeentie 135 C, Helsinki, Finland
Investor:Varma-Sampo
Completion:1995-2000
Area:12180 m2


An art laboratory for the digital age
The University of Art and Design is located in the old industrial premises of Arabia Ceramics in the historic section of Helsinki, where the city was founded in 1550. The area has a long tradition in industrial design manufacture. With ceramic production moving into modern technologies, vacant parts of the old factory buildings are available for new uses.
The audiovisual centre is partly incorporated into renovated manufacturing structures adjoining the existing University of Art and Design. Film and television studios, a black-box theater, and an auditorium is located in a new addition.
The centre is an integral part of a larger master plan for this industrial block. The extensive building complex projected can be seen as a small town, which will be organized hierarchically into squares and boulevards, back alleys and service areas. The renovation of the old manufacturing structure will retain its original roughness and authenticity, an approach that fits the practical needs of its new function.
The project includes rearranging the main entrance of the university as well. A glazed gallery connects the new entry across the block to the future main square of a proposed residential suburb. The gallery will have spaces for exhibiting student projects and will also serve as the lobby for the four-hundred-seat auditorium and the experimental theater.
Media Centre Lume implies numerous design layers of function and mechanical and electrical systems, as well as advanced cable networks. The architecture relies on a balanced coordination of these matrices. Its references are to microchips, in the sense of mastering complex flows of energy rather than of the fetishism of hardware icons.
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