Office and hotel buildings
Finland, Vantaa 2016
Fazer built a visitor and conference centre at Vaarala, Vantaa, in commemoration of its jubilee year
The Finnish Steel Prize 2016
Fazer is a family-owned company which celebrated its 125th birthday in 2016. Fazer built a new visitor and conference centre at Vaarala, Vantaa, adjoining the company’s other production plants and office buildings. This is the company’s first visitor centre to serve the general public as an open house display window for Fazer’s chocolate, sweets and bakery products. The visitor centre comprises a cafe-restaurant, shop, exhibition premises, an auditorium with 220 seats, and a tropical garden. In addition to conference rooms, the conference centre is provided with a parking area for Fazer’s own use.
Teracon was responsible for the project’s main structural design and steel construction design. The production plans for the concrete and steel structures were also included in the design contract. The building complex consists of two circular buildings, the larger of which forms the visitor centre with a floor area of 2,800m², coming in to view first when arriving at the Fazer’s office and factory area. There is a 1,700m² exhibition centre behind the visitor centre with conference rooms for B2B visitors, plus a parking area for the vehicles of Fazer employees.
The design phase kicked off in May 2015 and continued fervently until spring 2016. The frame of the visitor centre consists of composite columns and lattice-and-beam structures built in compliance with the roof’s circular form. The exhibition centre has a more typical composite-and-WQK beam frame complemented with load bearing concrete walls and earth pressure walls.
See Teräsrakennelehti 1/2016 for an introductory article in Finnish on the Fazer project.
Teräsrakennelehti 4/2016 describes the project that won the Finnish Steel Prize 2016.
The project was awarded the Finnish Steel Prize 2016 by the Finnish Constructional Steelwork Association.
Articles (in Finnish):
