Sites & stories: Paavo and Töölö Sports Hall
Iida Jalkanen
In this series, we take a glimpse at buildings that appeal to us at Archinfo – and tell a little about our staff in the process. Our communications and event production coordinator Paavo, who moved to Helsinki from Turku, found a special place in the Töölö Sports Hall after moving to his new hometown.
I moved to Helsinki from Turku about two and a half years ago. As I was searching for a gym in Töölö near my house, the Sports Hall, located only a couple blocks away, was a natural choice. An easily accessible place to exercise that’s open year-round is something that I (and definitely many others who live in Töölö) hold in high regard.
Completed in 1935 and designed by architects Aarne Hytönen and Risto-Veikko Luukkonen, the Sports Hall – formerly known as the Banquet Hall – served the citizens of Helsinki in many ways already nearly a century ago. Originally built with the 1940 Olympics in mind, the Hall hosted sporting events, President P.E. Svinhufvud’s 75th birthday and many different political events in addition to banquets.
During the 1952 Olympics the finals for sporting events such as wrestling, weightlifting and basketball took place in the Sports Hall. “Kisis” – as the hall is often referred to by locals – has offered many significant cultural experiences as well: world-class stars such as Louis Armstrong and Paul McCartney have performed in the Sports Hall. What fascinates me the most with the hall is how multifunctional it is and how it was designed that way from the very beginning. Maybe this functionality and multipurposeness is what has enabled its long lifespan.
Even though I’m still fairly new to Helsinki I feel like the Sports Hall is a sort of soul or heart of the city. No matter the time of day or day of the week, the hall is full of people of all ages and backgrounds, all exercising and playing different sports in peace and harmony. I think the way the hall’s interior was designed supports so many different sports being played in the same space: the tall and open middle part is for team sports such as basketball or volleyball, while the recesses among the edges are for individual sports or weightlifting. The Sports Hall doesn’t close anyone off and instead offers everyone an equal opportunity to find joy in exercising.
Paavo Foley started at Archinfo as an International relations student in the spring of 2022, as the Apoli: Vaikuttavuutta viestinnällä project was starting. The project is now finished and Paavo has graduated with a Master’s degree in social sciences. We get to keep the half Finnish - half American Paavo in our ranks until the end of the year.
Read more about the Töölö Sports Hall onFinnish Architecture Navigator.
