An architectural tour of Tapiola’s garden city
The tour takes you from the metro to the Exhibition Centre WeeGee or from WeeGee to the metro. Aarne Ervi’s early 1960s centre, ‘The City’, was presented to visitors as the highlight of modern Finnish architecture: Terraced houses and blocks of flats that blended in with their surroundings, ‘the bachelors’ hotel’ Mäntytorni, ‘The Tractor Factory’ prefab building and the heart of the village, Kino Tapiola, were built in the eastern parts of the district. The area around building No 3 on Kontiontie street, designed by Kaija and Heikki Siren, introduces visitors to a calm garden city atmosphere.
Länsi-Tapiola: the story of a city district
The immediate surroundings of the Exhibition Centre WeeGee in Länsi-Tapiola provide an excellent overview of the concept and construction of a garden city. A short walking tour includes terraced houses designed by Kaija and Heikki Siren, Viljo Revell’s ‘Hip Flasks’ and the centre of this western neighbourhood.
A historical and architectural walking tour of Otsolahti
Visitors to Otsolahti’s green neighbourhood will learn about the area’s manor house history, the garden city movement in Tapiola and world-class housing architecture. The tour starts and ends on the shores of Otsolahti, a few minutes’ walk from the metro station. Alternatively, your guide can pick your group up from the metro or WeeGee, which will make the tour slightly longer.
You can decide for yourselves the duration of the day’s programme to best suit your needs. For lunch, you could stop by at the Exhibition Centre WeeGee, or have dinner at restaurant Kylä, to name a few options. And whatever you choose to do, the metro provides a convenient link to Espoo City Museum’s visitors from near and far.