Photo Lauri Rotko
Erottaja pavilion
The first public building in Helsinki designed by Alvar Aalto. Aalto won the wartime bid in 1941 organised by the City of Helsinki to design the entrance to the bomb shelter below the Erottaja hill. Aalto's original plan was left unrealised due to the war, and a temporary construction was erected on the location.
The pavilion found there now was built in 1951. Alvar Aalto wanted to reshape his design after winning the bid, as the execution was postponed with several years. The new traffic arrangements proposed by Aalto were not done, and his contribution was left to include the above-ground construction and the staircase.
The Pavilion is nowadays used as a entrance to a parking hall below ground level.