On the waterfront in Helsinki – a zen regeneration game
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The world’s most sustainable travel destination is giving its harbour a facelift with an eco-friendly hotel that whispers cool Scandi minimalism while reconnecting guests with nature. On a windswept late November evening at the edge of the waterfront in Helsinki’s Katajanokka harbour, a huge, new white building shines brightly in the wintery night sky, its curving, illuminated walls undulating like a giant concertina of corrugated card.
![[The Katajanokan Laituri building, home to the Solo Sokos Pier 4 hotel]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/86829da001aaaf4d2d28568442856db94dd87e2a/0_112_3500_2100/master/3500.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
To one side, monolithic cruise ships destined for Stockholm or Tallinn, just across the Gulf of Finland, lie temporarily dormant, while to the other the grand, pastel-coloured, neoclassical palaces and municipal buildings of the Christmas market-filled Senate Square are a reminder of the city’s 19th-century past as part of the Russian empire.
![[The lobby of the Solo Sokos Pier 4 hotel]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/6a4ca61d7233f48f63dc75999063b6639031f033/0_121_3500_2100/master/3500.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
Sustainably built to last for at least the next 100 years using carbon-storing Finnish and Swedish timber, the white Katajanokan Laituri building is home to not only the headquarters of Finnish forestry company Stora Enso, but also the newly opened, eco-friendly hotel, Solo Sokos Pier 4.
![[Helsinki’s 1868 Uspenski Cathedral]](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/9c76bf5a5f1095920b1c7694d6c18ae62b107d60/0_0_3500_2625/master/3500.jpg?width=445&dpr=1&s=none&crop=none)
The building is the latest in a new wave of grand-scale, sustainable, wooden constructions, which, alongside the city’s clean air – it is one of the least polluted in Europe and has a high proportion of green-certified hotels (close to 90%) – helped Helsinki top the Global Destination Sustainability (GDS) Index and be named the world’s most sustainable travel destination.
As I walk into Katajanokan Laituri’s minimalist, circular entrance hall, with its round central skylight, I’m greeted by the sound of birdsong and gentle ambient music. It feels like the perfect accompaniment to the classically “Finimalist” space – as Finland’s renowned, often minimalist design has been nicknamed. It is a Scandi cross between a peaceful zen garden, a 1960s cathedral and the inside of a head of garlic made of blond wood.
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