The WeeGee House

The City of Espoo is renovating a former printing house for the purposes of culture and arts. The WeeGee building is transformed into a cultural centre focusing on visual and material culture. The WeeGee House is a cultural centre and a meeting place creating opportunities for seeing, experiencing, and learning.

The renovation of the WeeGee building will be completed in 2005, providing premises for three museums, an art gallery, cultural organisations, cultural business activities suitable for its overall profile as well as ancillary services provided for both clients and occupants of the building. The total floor area of the building is over 23,000 sq.m. and the premises for the cultural activities cover some 17,500 sq.m of which over 3,000 sq.m. have been designated for cultural business activities.

The WeeGee building is transformed into a cultural centre in phases. The first occupants are already in place. The Helina Rautavaara Museum (the ethnographic museum) was opened there in 1998. The phase of the renovation completed at the end of last year provided premises for the Espoo City Museum and for some of the teaching activities of the Espoo School of Art. At the same time Gallery Aarni got new facilities in the building. The Espoo

City Museum opened its doors in May 2002. In 2005 the house will provide premises also for the Espoo Art Museum and Cartes (the Computer Arts Centre at Espoo) and cultural business activities.

The WeeGee House, a former printing house situated in Tapiola, is designed by Professor Aarno Ruusuvuori. The construction of the building was completed in three phases in 1964,1967 and 1974. The building is a hallmark of the Finnish industrial architecture and 1960s Constructivism, and is considered such a unique structure that its scale model is in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The WeeGee House is an integral part of the acclaimed milieu and architecture of Tapiola Garden City.

The WeeGee House will be one of the many sites of interest on the future Tapiola Cultural Route. The route will begin near the Espoo Cultural Centre and Tapiola Church and end at LansiAuto Areena. Sites along the route will include the Finnish Museum of Horology and St Herman of Alaska Church.

When completed the WeeGee House will be a bold and innovative centre of creativity and culture. The functional content of the house rests on the activities of the various organisations operating there, whose co-operation and networking also provides new opportunities for developing activities.