Come Together (2)

RUNNER-UP – Come Together (2)

Lassi Mustonen (FI), architect

Jury evaluation:

As the title suggests, Come Together seeks to facilitate as many encounters as possible in the centre of Hyvinkää. The team demonstrate a good awareness of the scale of the site and the challenges posed by the elevation differences and the railway tracks that dominate the area. In contrast with other submissions, Come Together’s approach to creating a unified city centre is characterised by its surgeon-like precision. By creating a brand new and clearly conceived central square above the platforms, the team has created a fresh urban space that succeeds in being close to everything and cleverly combines the station area with the surrounding streetscape and the public transport terminal. The square, however, is not sufficient to bring the two halves of the city centre together. This is achieved instead by the proposed wooden hybrid building that offers protection from the noise emanating from rail traffic to the north and is ideally oriented with a south-facing aspect.

In terms of the urban structure it proposes, the design works well throughout but it really comes into its own with the treatment given to the station and its surrounding areas. Although the proposal to demolish Siltakatu bridge is based on the entrant’s desire to create a more visually cohesive appearance for the area, it seems disproportionate and though it will have the benefit of driving further visual cohesion across the two sides divided by Hangonrata railway, it will also have the effect of eliminating an important connection for the city. The decision to eliminate the bridge has also necessitated rather awkward street arrangements in places. The plans for Rentto and Koritsooninmäki are confident and seem to work well, although they are fairly conventional.

However, the scale is well though out and the functional content is rich and varied, creating a highly credible and authoritative plan for a potential new hub for the city. Although the hybrid building shows excellent potential and the design is excellent, some challenges do remain with regard to how it will fit in with the existing and historic station buildings. It is also not entirely clear from the materials provided how the new superstructure and the existing buildings will relate to one another. By making the building smaller or re-designing the outer edges of the building, it would be possible to ensure a better fit with the historic building stock. No infill development is proposed for the eastern part of the city centre.

Description:

“Come together” is searching for the lost connection between the human and the environment in Hyvinkää city. A new and re-found connection that is not mediated by cars. The belief of the project is that fluent physical connections improve human connections in the city. A good city offers spaces where citizens can meet each other. Public spaces are therefore the key to a city that connects and includes everyone.

Human connections and encounters in the city always open up new opportunities. Therefore an inclusive city loses no chance to create something new and good for the community. These encounters can turn into productive capacities for the city.
Thus, the new and productive cityscape of Hyvinkää is green, connected and inclusive. Open spaces, streets and pedestrian areas as well as bike lines create new connections.