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Helsinki west metro station project wins Nordic Lighting Design Award 2020
Eight stations make up the 14 km western extension of Helsinki’s metro system.
Kuvio OyThe biennial award spotlights remarkable lighting installations that use daylight or artificial light and combine aesthetics, architecture, technology, quality and energy.
The Nordic Lighting Design Award 2020 recognised the Helsinki metro system’s western extension (Länsimetro), which opened in the autumn of 2017. Consisting of eight stations, the 14-kilometre development expanded the system from Helsinki to the neighbouring city of Espoo. Each station was given its own identity through a combination of architecture, art and light.
“The project is highly innovative – these are not your typical metro stations – yet at the same time visually durable; the jury believes that these environments will also remain pleasant and memorable over time,” said the chairperson of the jury, Ourania Georgoutsakou.
Lighting for the stations’ public spaces was designed by VALOA design and light art installations by Tommi Grönlund and Petteri Nisunen, and Lighting Design Collective with Helin & Co Architects.
The jury was impressed by how the lighting was well-integrated with the architecture.
“Ingenuity best describes this project – the lighting designers have been very successful in developing and applying many different solutions,” the jury statement read. “The jury also very much appreciates how light is used on vertical surfaces and behind glass. This gives the feeling of a larger space and facilitates orientation.”
The Nordic Lighting Design Award (Nordisk Lyspris) was established by the Nordic Light Committee in 2000 to highlight the lighting cultures of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden.