Tapiola

Infobox Espoo
Name = Tapiola

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Caption =
Main district = Suur-Tapiola
Inner district = Tapiolan keskus, Otsolahti, Länsikorkee
Population = 16,001 (2006)
Language =
Finnish = 89.9
Swedish = 6.4
Other = 3.7
Jobs = 7,483

Tapiola ("Hagalund" in Swedish) is a district of Espoo on the south coast of Finland, and is one of the major urban centres of Espoo. The name "Tapiola" is derived from "Tapio", who is the forest god of Finnish mythology, especially as expressed in the Kalevala, the national epic of Finland.

Tapiola was largely constructed in the 1950s and 1960s by the Finnish apartment foundation and was designed as a garden city. It is the location for the Espoo cultural centre. It is located in the western part of Greater Helsinki.

History

The original city plans for Tapiola were made by Otto-Iivari Meurman. Later, the apartment foundation made significant changes to the plans, and handed planning of Tapiola over to a group of architects, headed by Aarne Ervi. Each member of the group designed their own part of the area and its buildings. In the middle 1960s, a modern garden city was built, which brought world-wide fame for Finnish urban planning.

Later, the commercial centre of Tapiola has been significantly expanded, by constructing new business and office buildings, not keeping with the original style of Tapiola.

Tapiola is also the cultural centre of Espoo, because it houses the Espoo cultural centre (home to the Tapiola Sinfonietta), the city museum (in the WeeGee house) and the Espoo city theatre. The Tapiola library is located in the cultural centre.

The name Tapiola comes from a competition held by the apartment foundation. The lands originally belonged to the Hagalund mansion.

ervices

Finland's first shopping centre, Heikintori, was opened in Tapiola in 1968. The Tapiola centre has a large selection of services: department stores (Stockmann and Sokos), book stores (Akateeminen kirjakauppa and Suomalainen kirjakauppa), groceries (S-Market, K-Supermarket, Stockmann Herkku), Alko, a post office, banks (Nordea, Sampo, Aktia, Osuuspankki, Ålandsbanken, Handelsbanken, Nooa Säästöpankki and Suurpohjan osuuspankki), sports stores (Intersport, Sportia), photography stores, barber's shops, and other small businesses. Public services include the Tapiola health centre, a library, an employment bureau, KELA, the Espoo magistrate and the Espoo tax bureau.

ports services

The Tapiola centre houses a swimming pool and the Tapiola bowling alley. Near the centre is also the Tapiola tennis park. In the Tuulimäki defense shelter there are premises for wrestling, judo, shooting (air guns and archery), table tennis, gymnastics and fencing. There is also a boxing ring in connection to the Tuulimäki gymnasium. In western Tapiola there is the Tapiola sports park, housing the ice hockey rink, skating rink and the tennis centre.

Buildings

In the centre of Tapiola, next to the central pool, there is the Tapiola Garden hotel, designed by Aarne Ervi. In autumn 2005, the highest wooden office building in Europe, called the Modular-office, was built in southern Tapiola by next to the Länsiväylä highway. The building is operated by Finnforest.

Tapiola is also the name of a Finnish insurance company, presumably from the location of its headquarters. Among other major companies headquartered in Tapiola are Huhtamäki and M-real.

In Otsolahti in eastern Tapiola, there is a small boat harbour for motor boats.

The Itäkartano area east of the Tapiola centre is famous for its apartment buildings built in the 1950s, visited by architects from all around the world. The Itäkartano centre operated as the centre of the whole district of Tapiola before the current central area was built. Remnants of this central role include Tapiola's cinema, Kino Tapiola, by the Mäntyviita street, and office apartments. The area belongs to the Finnish museum bureau's list of significant cultural environments. The highest, oldest, and most significant building in the area is the white, 11-storey-high Mäntytorni building.

To the north of Tapiola centre is a central park, Silkkiniitty, a large grass field reaching to Pohjois-Tapiola. It is popular among sportspeople and sunbathers.

According to the Finnish museum bureau, Tapiola is an unique phenomenon in the world. According to the bureau, new proposed changes to the city planning threaten the existence of this cultural heritage. ["Kansallismaisema uhattuna", Vartti, 9 May 2007.] [ [http://www.mfa.fi/tapiola Lukkarinen, Päivi: "Tapiolan puutarhakaupunki", Finnish museum of building art.] (Last retrieved on 29 June 2007)]

Tapiola will have its own metro station when the Länsimetro project is completed. This will be the terminus for the first stage of Länsimetro. The project will be probably completed in 2013.

See also

* Districts of Espoo

References

External links

* [http://map3.navici.com/NTP.bHZtIDMzNzY0OTYuNjYyOTQgNjY3NzE3MS45NjkxNSA4NjAgNTc0IDcgYmtnZCAzNTM0NzkwIDY5NzcyMjAgbW92ZXRvIHsgIkt1b3BpbyIgbGFiZWwgeyB9IHdhbGsgbGVnIHsgMCAwIH0gd2FsayBsZWcgeyAtMTEyIC01MyAtNDggMzA1IDk2IC05MSAwIDAgfSB3YWxrIGxlZyAiS3VvcGlvIiBsYWJlbCB9IHJvdXRlLmRyYXcgc2hpcG91dA=.V3-JXLfHQQiAhmgpKKWRFfjz7uk=.pngMap of Tapiola]