Kirsti and Erkki Helamaa, Apartment buildings 1973

Originally, four high tower blocks were planned to be built in the area. Only two 15-story tower blocks in the block south of the commercial center were realized. The buildings were designed by Erkki Helamaa, who served as a professor of building construction in Tampere from 1971 to 1988, and architect Kirsti Helamaa. Unlike other buildings in the area, the tower blocks feature ribbon windows. The clinker-surfaced concrete elements used on the long sides of the facades also add a sense of dignity. The glazed brown narrow vertical clinker has been preserved to this day. Grooved concrete elements were used on the gable ends. According to the building permit drawings, the concrete elements of the balcony railings had an “exposed aggregate surface”. The ground floor facades consist of dark-painted grooved concrete. Between the tower blocks, in the northern corner of the plot, there is a 1-story wing building housing a swimming pool and commercial space. The facades of the flat-roofed building are clad with green sheet metal, and a ribbon window runs along the top edge, divided by high wooden roof beams protruding at the eaves. The swimming pool designed for the residents is closed off towards the pedestrian paths. The commercial space at the eastern end opens to the east towards the path. The large courtyard opening to the southwest is rocky and open. A row of pergolas was planned in front of the buildings, to which the functional areas of the courtyard would be connected. The pergola no longer exists. Parking spaces for the residents of the block have been built in the parking facility under the Matinkylä commercial property and in parking block 23023. Values and preservation: The tower blocks, dominating as landmarks in the landscape, are centrally connected to the 1970s apartment building area of Matinkylä. The buildings have preserved their original appearance well.