Katajanokan laituri won the Finlandia Prize for Architecture in October 2025. Katajanokan laituri is a solid wood hotel and office complex that brings a new kind of urban space to Helsinki’s maritime national landscape. The previously closed port area has been partially opened to the use of city residents with the new building. An international architectural competition for its design was held in 2020 and the project was completed in August 2024. Nomaji designed Katajanokan laituri’s roof terraces and vegetation areas, where nature and urban landscape merge. Anttinen Oiva Architects was responsible for the main design. The building has received significant recognition before; it won Finnish Timber Council’s Puupalkinto Award in 2024 and the International Award for Wood Architecture by press in Paris in 2025.
Mika Savela wrote about Katajanokan laituri in Helsingin Sanomat on September 3, 2024: ” Katajanokan laituri’s biggest asset is the unprecedented scale and greenness of its roof terrace. Opening the rooftop of an office building to the public and to pollinators is in itself a benevolent public gesture, but the bird’s-eye view from the terrace in all directions also helps us to concretely visualise and follow the development of the entire port area in the near future.” (freely translated)
The Finlandia winner was chosen by archbishop Tapio Luoma, who praised the building’s brightness, use of wood and open nature on the website of the Finlandia Prize for Architecture: “The closeness to nature can be experienced even more deeply on the roof terrace, where you can admire the city landscape below from amidst colourful plantings. The open nature of the building is also emphasised by the fact that it is not only intended for the company’s employees and hotel guests, but for everyone who enters through the main door.” (freely translated)
Congratulations Anttinen Oiva Architects, and thank you for the inspiring collaboration!
Read more about the Finlandia Prize for Architecture https://www.arkkitehtuurinfinlandia.fi/en/
Photos by Kalle Kouhia and Caroline Moinel, visualisation by Nomaji, drone photo by Mikko Raskinen