A new, needs-based facility linking the various depots of Pohjolan Liikenne, close to important transport hubs.
Pohjolan Liikenne’s headquarters and bus depot are located on Veturitie in Pasila, Helsinki, near the railway tracks. Completed in 2016, the depot handles around 300 buses and also serves as a workplace and base for more than 700 people. The building includes two car wash bays, bus repair shops, personnel rooms and ample office space. The idea was to connect the different depots of Pohjolan Liikenne and create a new, modern facility close to important transport hubs.
The users and the site are characterised by the speed of traffic, so the solution was to create a dynamic building that is easy to perceive. The building is composed of clear, individual floors, which overlap, partly as projections or recesses, forming a streamlined whole along the main line. Due to the shape and functional principles of the building, steel proved to be a natural structural solution in many places. The façade uses corrugated metal sheets in varying patterns, gloss levels and shades to accentuate the horizontal lines. The corrugated sheet metal can also take you back to the sleek sides of the Greyhound buses of the past.
On the ground floor there are high maintenance and washing facilities for buses. The long walls consist of glass walls and folding glass doors. In the middle, the floor is divided in two, with the upper floor housing, among other things, the drivers’ social rooms. From the main railway line and Veturitie, you can see directly through the bus maintenance facilities. Evening lighting highlights the building’s 24/7 activity.
The head offices, conference rooms, cafeteria and drivers’ service point are located on the third floor of the building. Smooth window strips on the long sides and a large ‘windscreen’ on the south end emphasise the orientation of the building in line with the roadways. Behind the windscreen, partially supported in the air by a V-shaped pillar, is the CEO’s office.
