Radisson Blu Seaside Hotel

How to create the ambience of a boutique hotel to a massive hotel?
Interior Architects Fyra, a Finnish interior design company, created for the people of Helsinki a new living room with a bold, raw style.

How do you know the refurbishment of a hotel was a success?
In the downtown Helsinki harbour area, in lobby of the Radisson Blu Seaside Hotel, the success became apparent when witnessing the first clients pouring in, looking around and then proceeding to take out their phones and start snapping photos – A confirmation that the room boasting with a raw, gutsy interior had become the new living room of the people of Helsinki.

The architectural design for hotel renovation was carried out by the Finnish interior design company Interior Architects Fyra. The company was established in 2010 by four women. Fyra worked meticulously on the details refining the very essence of the concept of the hotel. The location in the harbour, against the backdrop of an old shipyard, combined with the urban downtown Helsinki vibe was brought into the details of the hotel interior.

The reception desks resemble old travel trunks and behind them is a wall built out of a shipping container. Black bookcases are filled with old binoculars, globes and books, and people gather around wooden tables to soak in the ambience and enjoy their lunch. The colourful bar has a graffiti, This is Helsinki, sprawled across it.

A Nobel history
One of the biggest challenges was to figure out how a hotel can provide service for a substantial number of customers whilst avoiding the feeling of a huge place serving large crowds. For example, in the restaurant this was solved by dividing the space into smaller areas. There could be 200 clients having lunch at one time yet it would feel as if you were sitting in one of Helsinki’s trendiest little cafés.

“Tomi Peitsalo, the Regional Director at Radisson Blu Finland, stated in the kick-off meeting that our project will be a success when someone loves it and someone hates it – as long as no one remains indifferent. It was truly amazing to work with a client who had such a bold vision”, says Eva-Marie Eriksson, Interior Architect and partner at Fyra.

The hotel consists of three buildings. The lobby and some of the rooms are situated in a building that used to be a storehouse for cheese for the dairy company Valio.

There are more rooms and a restaurant located in a wing built in the 1990s and, in addition, there is a building from 1940 that accommodates the conference facilities as well as the rest of the hotel rooms. This building used to house the laboratories of the Institute of Biochemistry. Also the working quarters of Nobel prize winner A. I. Virtanen used to be in this historic building.

Would you like to sign a cow?
The historical background of the buildings situated against the backdrop of the old shipyard is depicted by the insightful use of subtle details: For example, there is a guestbook in the lobby in form of a full-sized cow – an artwork designed by the graffiti artist Anselmi Oksman.

The interior design of the rooms and the style of the building complement each other. The rooms in the former laboratory facilities have a softer colour palette whereas those situated in the wing have a Scandinavian feel with a fresh, crisp colour scheme. The rooms in the old cheese warehouse have a slightly rawer edge to the décor. All rooms are cosy, comfortable and have a welcoming atmosphere designed purposefully by leaving out the wow factor. “We hope people would leave their rooms and spend time in the restaurant and hang out and lounge in the lobby”, Eva-Marie Eriksson says.

God is in the details – and restroom door latches

Radisson Blu Seaside Hotel is a large hotel consisting of 349 rooms. The few rooms still in renovation will be finished in summer 2017 concluding the project of one and a half years. The last two years have included both large scale plans as well as finding solutions to thousands of practical puzzling questions and millions of details.

One such detail was finding just the right kind of restroom door latches. That quest took a long time. A really long time. “God is in the details”, says Eva-Marie Eriksson and laughs.

“Many details forced us to consider whether this or that can be done until we realised that it is possible and that it will be done. For example, for a long time the plan for the sign above the reception desk was to say Reception. In the final stages of the project we came up with the idea of the sign saying Welcome friends adding a more personal touch and reflecting our service philosophy. The idea of a rough and raw urban luxe has been executed masterfully”, says Roni Huttunen, General Manager at Radisson Blu Seaside Hotel.

Fyra