The plan of Suikkila suburb in the early 1960s consisted of housing development with several types of residential buildings, two small shopping centres, a primary school, a daycare centre, a parish centre, and service buildings. Pekka Pitkänen’s office planned the suburb for the construction company Urakoitsijat Oy. The area was built in a close co-operation between the construction company and the bank Kansallis-Osake-Pankki. Exceptionally of that time, the area was built entirely without state loans. The construction of the suburb started in 1963 and was completed in 1983.

The suburb consists of three distinct areas. In the north of Suikkilantie, there is an area of four-storey lamellas and terraced houses on a former field. Along Talinkorventie, there are twelve tower blocks. These two areas are placed freely in the terrain. In the south, there is an area of towers and lamellar blocks and some terraced houses, placed in an angular grid. The site plan of the northern area was based on a proposal by Pitkänen. The southern area was adjusted from architect Jouko Rastimo’s earlier site plan.

The high-rise apartment buildings have strip windows on the long facades, with concrete panels in between. Along Talinkorventie, the tower blocks have white concrete surfaces and black window panes. In both the southern area and in the northern area, the lamellar blocks, as well as the Jussintornit towers, have grey facades of exposed aggregate concrete. The window strips have bright basic colours. During the entire implementation of Suikkila, the largest apartments were placed in terraced houses. They were built both as singular plots aside the high-rise plots, and a larger area in the field to the north.

Along with Suikkila, Pekka Pitkänen’s office designed apartment houses to Turku suburbs Kurala, Luolavuori, Runosmäki, Pansio, Varissuo and Vasaramäki.

Text: Mikko Laaksonen