finfactory: KAAPELI

A View of the Cable Factory looking down the center of the U shape.

The Scene:
With a bowl or mashed potatoes and moose meat covered in lingonberries in my hand I make my way from the Finnish beer festival outside to a loading dock to eat my meal. I find a spot with minimal cigarette butts and situate myself between an elderly couple, coming from the photograph museum and looking for the café, and a scantily clad woman in a bunny costume, handing out flyers for a show that I am pretty sure would not be legal in the U. S. Across from me the freight door of another loading dock slides open and out race a dozen children in tights and leotards with jazz shoes in hand. Most head toward the busses while a few stragglers pick their way through a crowd of 200 lb men who are clad in equal proportions of leather and tattoos. One of the men is showing off the tattoo on the back of his neck --a photographic image of the motorcycle he is standing next to. A low bass vibrates the ground as the band “The Orders” (said to be the sound of “Johnny Cash meets Joy Division”) tunes up for a performance.

What is the source of a scene like this?

The Kaapeli or Cable Factory, located in the Ruoholahti neighborhood on a western peninsula in Helsinki, is home to more then 300 different artists. The building covers more then 50,000 square meters and houses painters, bands, dance schools, museums, radio stations, TV stations, newspapers, a French cultural center, pottery classes, film production units, cafés, restaurants, and the list continues. There are also spaces that can be retuned for various occasions like the Finnish Beer Festival or the Scandinavian Tattoo Convention. The building was originally built for the Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy (Finnish Cable Factory); the production of underwater cables caused the company to grow rapidly in the first part of the 20th century. The Cable Factory was built in stages from 1939-1954 and was the largest building of its time in Finland. It is seven stories tall and forms a U shape. The area surrounding Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy became heavily populated by industries by mid-century. In 1967 Suomen Kaapelitehdas Oy merged with Nokia Oy to become key players in the Finnish export industry. In 1985 the factory stopped producing cables and the space lay vacant until 1990 when Nokia began to rent space at a cheap price to artists. The building became home to hundreds of artists and eventually the city of Helsinki took over the factory in order to maintain what had become a diverse cultural center. Today the former factory has undergone many renovations and is the largest arts center in Finland.

The main entrance to the Cable Factory on a less crowded day.

Looking up the 7 stories of the Cable Factory: there are still walkways and large cranes that were used when it was a working factory.

The Factory sits on the bank of Ruoholahti situated between two new buildings. On the right of the factory is one of the new housing and office developments and beyond are the cranes of a still functioning port.

Looking down from a balcony on the large hall.

The inside of the large hall in the Cable Factory while the Finnish Beer Festival is taking place.

A close-up of one of the new developments that sits adjacent to the Cable Factory.

The series of new developments.

The main entrance to the building lies on the inside of the U shape, at the top of a loading dock. Walking up to it you pass by various doorways to theater groups, museums, and workshops. Many of the doors and spaces look as though they have not changed at all since the cable factory left. Other spaces, such as the photo museum, have made the necessary changes to display art but kept the material palette to a minimum. Partition walls have been added to display the photos: these are distinctly different from the original building. Metal and glass stairs and handrails have been added to facilitate visitor circulation. The renovation, however, is minimal and the material palette has been kept simple and distinct from the original factory. Other spaces, such as the Main Hall, have simply been renovated for upkeep and rented out for various occasions. Although this room has been repainted, some of the existing machinery still stands in the corners.

The location of the Ruoholahti neighborhood in Helsinki

The surrounding Ruoholahti neighborhood has also undergone many changes in the past couple of decades as the city center of Helsinki has grown and industries are being relocated outside the city. A new harbor is being built north of the city and the old ports are being turned into new neighborhoods of Helsinki. Around the shoreline of the Cable factory, 12 acres of land were filled in and are now home to new housing developments. The area of Ruoholahti currently houses 6,000 residents and provides 10,000 jobs with the plans to increase to 9,000 residents and 15,000 jobs.