W hen real estate investor Arthur
Buchardt came to Helsinki for the first time – 30 years ago – he fell in love with the city and its people . Hailing from Norway , he found that the Finns were kindred spirits – oft-times shy straightshooters who say and mean the same thing .
“ Also , I thought that Helsinki was exotic as well , located as it is between west and east .”
And then there was the architecture which left Buchardt speechless . Since he was a teenager , one of his most prized possessions was a chair designed by the Finnish master Alvar Aalto – and here Buchardt was in Helsinki , taking in all the architectural hallmarks designed by Aalto .
“ Everything about Aalto seemed very attractive to me : the clear , timeless design and the natural materials really made an impression ,” he looks back . Aalto ’ s simple design style appealed to Buchardt because , under his own admission , “ so am I ”.
“ Also , I look at Aalto ’ s work now and I see that it embodies the Finnish way to be . Somehow it ’ s honest and natural and simple to read .”
No Place Like Helsinki
As a consequence of that first 1980 ’ s visit , Buchardt has been coming back so frequently that you ’ d think he ’ s lost count of those visits a long time ago . That ’ s not the case :
“ I ’ ve been to Helsinki 140 times ,” he says .
Nevertheless , as much as Buchardt was loving Helsinki it sure took a while before “ the Daughter of the Baltic ” heard the calls of the persistent pursuer . Having established a string of hotels in Norway and Sweden , Buchardt thought the time was ripe to expand his hotel empire to Helsinki during the 00 ’ s . The origins of the venture were positive enough : Buchardt had talks with Mirkku Kullberg , CEO of Artek , the caretaker of Aalto ’ s legacy , and Pekka Korpinen , Helsinki Deputy Mayor , around 2006 .
“ I had just launched Clarion Sign Hotel in Stockholm and started talking with the City officials from Helsinki , whether it would be possible to build a hotel in Katajanokka , in the downtown area .”
Swiss , No Swish
Buchardt enlisted the aid of superstar architect agency Herzog & de Meuron to come up with a plan for the Katajanokka plot . The Swiss architects designed a hotel shaped like a cross which paid tribute to its marine surroundings . The plan attracted a lot of criticism , however , despite the fact that the architects seemed to be quite in tune with the values of the locals , declaring , for instance , that Helsinki ’ s greatest natural asset is its water .
In the end , the five-star design hotel with 200 guest rooms never came to be . While the City ’ s public servants were very much on board , the political will was not there and the City Council rejected the plan .
Waiting for four-and-a-half years for a flat-out ‘ No ’ hardly seems ideal , but Buchardt claims that the process bolstered his belief in the Finnish process : he found that the Finnish administrators were positive , constructive and very honest and open about the project .
“ They never promised something that was beyond their power . I understood all along that these types of decisions are political .”
Photo : Kuvatoimisto Kuvio Oy
14 Nordicum