finfactory: KATAJANOKKA

What do elementary school children and Russian torpedoes have in common?

Just east of downtown Helsinki is the island Katajanokka, attached to the mainland by a number of bridges. The island is home to the Uspenkski Cathedral, a Russian orthodox cathedral built in the 1860s. The island has a combination of older 20th century Art Nouveau and more recent modern housing developments.
Near the center of the island are a series of old brick factories. These factories were built by the Russians near the beginning of the 20th century when this area was the military port of Viapori. They served the various stages in the manufacture of torpedoes. Today these buildings house schools and youth centers for the Katajanokka neighborhood. The area was rezoned and redeveloped in the 1970s. The strict preservation laws in Finland prevented these factories from being torn down.
From the exterior these buildings look as if their internal use might not have changed at all from their initial functions. There is little indication of what the current uses are until closer inspection. There are walls where old dilapidated brick has been replaced with newer bricks but the only indications of an elementary school are the alphabet posters in the windows and the set of swings that has been erected next to an old smoke stack. The interior of the buildings has quite a different read. It’s crammed with offices, classrooms, and gyms -- besides the encompassing brick shell there is little indication of its original uses. The drastic change in usage has left almost no indication on the inside of what the buildings’ initial uses were, while the outside has retained the historical markers of its original industrial appearance.