Espoo Cultural Centre Info

Kulttuuriaukio 2, 02100 Espoo

Directions

• From Länsiväylä via the Tapiola junction: Tapiolantie–Itätuulentie–Pohjantie–Kauppamiehentie or Kaupinkalliontie
• From Ring I, for example Kalevalantie–Pohjantie–Kaupinkalliontie
• From Turunväylä, for example via the Mankkaa junction: Mankkaantie–Vanhamankkaantie–Koivuviidantie–Kalevalantie–Pohjantie–Kaupinkalliontie
•  

Parking

• Kaupinkallio car park (Kaupinkalliontie 7) daily from 6 am–midnight, tel. +358 9 4555531, Kaupinkallion Paikoitustalo Oy(external link)
• Kulttuuriaukio Square (subject to a fee)
• Heikintori Square and the other car parks of Tapiola (subject to a fee)
  

Public transport

Further information from Helsinki Region Transport(external link)

Espoo Cultural Centre’s cafe-restaurant Café Molli offers tasty and nutritious lunches, a rich selection of different cafeteria products, excellent pre-event and interval refreshments, drinks and special diets.

Opening hours:
Mon–Fri 10.00-17.00
Lunch is served Mon–Fri 11.00-14.00
In the evenings and on weekends opening hours: event-specific.

You are most welcome to enjoy good service at Molli!

https://cafemolli.fi/(external link)

Enquiries/advance bookings:
myynti@cafemolli.fi
tel. +358 41 3172025

Tapiola Library(external link)

Tapiola Sinfonietta(external link)

Espoo Music Institute(external link) – or EMO – is the largest and oldest artistic institute in the city of Espoo and provides instruction of the highest standards in an advanced musical syllabus. EMO’s aim is to equip its students with the skills necessary to foster a lifelong interest in music, both recreationally and professionally. The wide selection of courses available, together with the expertise of EMO's teaching staff, enables students to tailor their tuition to meet their individual needs and to open the door to the possibility of more in-depth, professional musical studies later in life. 

Tapiola Hall is a concert hall with 773/696 seats, with stalls and balcony. The high-quality equipment of the hall and our professional staff ensure successful organisation of all cultural events. The hall is also excellently suited for conference and
festive purposes. The hall features fixed audio and lighting equipment.

Auditorium

• 21 to 28 seats per row
• large auditorium 773 seats: stalls 589, balcony 180, wheelchairs 2
• small auditorium 690 seats (first four rows not in use)

Louhi Hall is a black theatre hall with 178/233/296 seats.
Top level theatre technical equipment and our professional personnel ensure the successful organisation of various music, theatre and dance performances. A space with high adaptability, the hall is also very well suited for organising business events.

Auditorium

• 21 seats per row
• large auditorium 296 seats
• small auditorium 233 seats (first three rows not in use = 63 seats)

With a surface area of 155 m2, the Gallery extends to two storeys. Located next to the main entrance, it is especially well suited for art exhibitions, but can also be trabsformed in to a festival office during various events.

Applications for art exhibitions:  please send relevant enclosures or work samples via e-mail to maija.hietala@espoo.fi

A panel will select the exhibitions or events best suited for the facility.

The decision to construct the Espoo Cultural Centre was made in the City Council’s session on 1 January 1972, when Espoo acquired the status of a city. The first room programme was completed in 1974, an architectural competition was announced in 1979 and its results in 1980. With some 60 entries participating, Kuunsilta (Moon glade) by architect Arto Sipinen was selected
the winner. Construction started in 1986; with the foundation stone laid on the birthday of Jean Sibelius on 8 December. The building was completed in January 1989. Near the Tapiola Central Basin, the Cultural Centre is built on a plot donated by the Asuntosäätiö Foundation at a location where Professor Aarne Ervi, in his plan for the Tapiola centre in 1954, situated a theatre building.

The Cultural Centre was developed into a multi-purpose building comprising the concert hall (Tapiola Hall), theatre hall (Louhi Hall), gallery, Tapiola Library, Espoo Music Institute, Tapiola Citizen's Office and Tapiola facilities of the Espoo Adult Education Centre. The Cultural Centre was the first major cultural investment made by the City of Espoo; the construction costs totalled
about €22 million, with the furniture and equipment costs at some €2.5 million.

In the late 1950s, Arto Sipinen worked at Alvar Aalto’s office, and Kuunsilta carries on Aalto’s monumental building tradition. The back of the building is located on the Kulttuuriaukio Square side, with the lap opening to the Central Basin. The white shade links the construction to the other buildings of the Tapiola centre, and it was proportioned to the adjacent large masses of the
Central Tower. The elevated section of the building features the public premises – halls, service facilities, gallery and foyers –, the lower southern wing housing the library, Music Institute, Adult Education Centre and the administrative facilities of the Cultural Centre and City Orchestra.

The materials used in the exterior walls include brushed white quartzite sandstone bricks, travertine tiles and glass. The interior facilities are made of birch, travertine and terrazzo concrete. The structural design of the foyers is unique in the world: the supporting columns are situated outside the building and are attached to the building with the help of beams. The glass panes
in the foyers are three-layered. The distance to ground level from the lower surface of the moon gazing pavilion on the third floor, missing its fourth column, is 14 m (the total length of the column being 21 m). The gross area of the building is 12,900 m2, with a capacity of 68,700 m3.

Arto Sipinen (1936-2017)

Over the past decades, architect Arto Sipinen has won over 40 awards and redemptions in architectural competitions, nearly 20 of which are first prizes. Most of his wins are from designing public buildings. Sipinen’s entry was awarded in the design competition held for central Helsinki in 1986. His works include an extension building in the area of the University
of Jyväskylä, Imatra City Hall, Imatra Cultural Centre, Mikaeli Concert and Congress Hall in Mikkeli, Lahti Adult Institute and main library as well as Kuusamo Hall Culture and Congress Centre. Arto Sipinen has been awarded the honorary title of Professor.