In my master’s degree diploma work, the whole Matinkylä area is analyzed both from a landscaping and functional perspective, taking into account its relationship with the surrounding park connections. The work includes an idea master plan that shows the whole area in a 1:2000 scale and a planning report which explains my planning solutions more specifically. I chose to make a master plan of this area for many reasons. First of all, Matinkylä is a typical example of a dense, suburban housing area built in the 1970’s where the overall landscape is left partly unplanned. This type of areas will most likely be replanned by the future landscape architects and are therefore useful research targets for a diploma work. In addition, there is a clear need to replan the Matinkylä green areas in a more sustainable way because their use will increase significantly after a few years. This will happen due to the new metro line (Länsimetro) that will reach its terminal stop at Matinkylä in the near future. Along with this change, there is a city plan for the entire area of Matinkylä that will increase the amount of residential buildings. Besides many kind and helpful people, my personal interest in my former home city and the help of planners from the City Planning Department of Espoo supported me during my diploma work. Espoo city purchased the work in 2012.
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The location of the master plan. Matinkylä’s green areas connect through Gräsanoja and Suomenoja to the Central Park of Espoo and act as an important part of the greenways in the Espoo region. The planning area is shown on this map with light green and the central park with dark green.
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This concept picture presents the planning area which is a narrow green “belt” framed by the dense city block structure. The light green areas represent natural green areas, dark green areas landscape / park structures. The rest is seaside, built housing or parking lot areas. The idea is to gradually create a “green living room” from this green belt for all citizens to enjoy: an alternative environment in contrast to the nearby shopping center Iso Omena.
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I divided the planning area into seven different parts based on their level of naturalness and social character. The series of integrating green spaces in the park master plan are raised from the shadow of constructed elements with landscaping that is more powerful in terms of colors, shapes and materials than previously planned. The detailed planning solutions are presented in the pictures below in the planning report.
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Part 1: Suomenlahdentie and Tynnyripuisto park. Suomenlahdentie is connected to a wetland area called Suomenoja that will be replanned for denser housing and harbor use in the future. In my plan, Suomenlahdentie became a pleasant light traffic connection with tree alleys. I reserved Tynnyripuisto for a new elementary school in line with the then current city plan. The school building got its form from a competition organized by the City Planning Department of Espoo won by JKMM architects in 2007.
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Part 2: The center of Matinkylä and the fourth largest shopping center in the metropolitan area (Iso Omena). The reserved area for the new metro station consists partly of a green deck that connects to the nearby park Kalapuisto.
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Part 3: This area consisted of large lawn fields, an unfinished construction site, an existing old mansion, a health care center and a kindergarten. At the time of my planning process, the major part of the construction site was waiting for buyers and was kept in a visually unaesthetic shape. In my plan the area was formed into a temporary multifunctional park. I decided to develop large lawn areas into meadows to minimize the maintenance and make it more fragmented with small details, like terraced stream edges and slopes, colorful planting areas and landforms for sitting.
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View from part 3: The unfinished construction site got a new look with easily growing hedges and plants as well as temporary playing and sitting areas. The materials used in the temporary park were all quick to recycle or demolish ecologically when needed. The height level differences were solved with a temporary steel bridge and concrete banks. I proposed that the whole temporary park area would be maintained with deposits made by the companies reserving the empty sites. With the deposit money the company would have the rights to keep the site reserved for a longer time period and wait for the best economic situation for the construction work to restart.
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Part 4: The City Planning Department had plans to reserve the area around the stream for building, but I decided to leave the whole site untouched because I felt it was one of the few totally open areas in the narrow green network that I was planning. The open valley area would also emphasize the nearby manor which is maybe the most important historic landscape element in Matinkylä.
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Part 5: Sport fields and halls fill this area and it is mostly covered with asphalt. In this plan the large parking lot areas are utilized as temporary activity areas outside the halls’ working hours. People are invited to enjoy the sporting events as viewers by adding sitting places around the sport fields. Framing plantings and decorative large asphalt areas with colorful prints rejuvenates the look of this area.
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Facade picture from part 5: Facade view to Matinkartanontie. Temporary activities like night movie theaters, skating, outdoor aerobics and wall painting events fill the large parking lots of the sport halls during the night. Few existing trees and Laila Pullinen’s sculpture at the end of the road are emphasized with colorful lighting.
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Part 6: The elements of this forest covered area are an artificial land form built from wastelands in the 90’s, an existing dog park, a playground and two sport fields.
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View to part 6: The key element of the area, the existing artificial landform, is emphasized in the landscape with sitting terraces and colorful lighting during the dark times of the day.
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Part 7: This area (Nokkalanniemi) is dominated by the existing beach and a small harbor. The beach is used actively by the residents of the wide Matinkylä-Olari area and that is why I decided to protect the ground by adding a wooden path and sitting terraces to my plan.
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View to part 7: The existing small Nokkala harbor is left almost to the current natural state in the plan. I only added a simple wooden path to the beach to make moving around more accessible and to save the roots of the trees. Sitting and stopping places were emphasized with small spotlights along the route. The harbor and beach needed to have a clear border between them, which I created with wooden terraces and new plantings at the end of the wooden path.
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