Sponda Plc: KITE+DART installation celebrates Hels

Sponda Plc                                           Press release                          10 March 2017, 10:00 a.m.

Sponda Plc: KITE+DART installation celebrates Helsinki's most famous sausage

Sponda Plc and Citycenter shopping centre organised a design competition for arts and design students to celebrate Makkaratalo's 50th anniversary. The competition's goal was to find creative ideas on how to dress the concrete ledge, "the sausage", loved by the people of Helsinki in a celebratory costume. The winner has now been chosen: Next summer, the ledge of the iconic Makkaratalo building, designed by Viljo Revell and Heikki Castrén in 1967, will be adorned with the KITE+DART installation.

The KITE+DART installation was designed by design student Eveliina Juuri from Aalto University. Its geometric pattern got its shape from Makkaratalo's decorative tiles and the tiling on Keskuskatu. The pattern formed by the two tiles is referred to as Penrose tiling.

"The installation combining the historic Keskuskatu and Citycenter works well in an environment where people and paths meet and cross. Its net-like structure supports the idea, and the best case scenario is that the viewer understands how the idiom is repeated on the nearby Keskuskatu and on the Makkaratalo adornment", says Eveliina Juuri.

The winner was chosen by a jury consisting of Cultural Director of Helsinki Stuba Nikula, Kiasma's Chief Curator Marja Sakari, HK Scan's VP Marketing Mikko Järvinen, VP of Commercial Development at MTV Jere Teutari, Managing Editor at Bauer Media Mikko Räsänen and Senior Vice President, Corporate Planning and IR at Sponda Pia Arrhenius.

The jury found similarities in the visual outlook of the winner installation and the history of Makkaratalo and shopping centre Citycenter as well as their ability to seize the moment. "KITE+DART is a never-ending pattern that never repeats itself, just like Citycenter," says Stuba Nikula.

The public had their chance to vote for their own favourite on the citycenter50.fi website, and KITE+DART was also the winner of the public poll.

One main prize of EUR 10,000 was given out in the competition. The 200-metre-long work of art, to be made from recycled material, will be unveiled on 18 May as part of the Lovely Helsinki festival, and will be displayed right in the heart of the city until the end of August.

Sponda Plc

Further information: Tiina Fågel, Citycenter's Shopping Centre Manager, +358 50 427 4091                              Marianna Viirre, Citycenter's Marketing Manager, +358 40 566 1858

Makkaratalo, completed in 1967 and renovated in 2013, houses the Citycenter shopping centre owned by Sponda Plc. Sponda Plc is a property investment company specializing in commercial properties in the largest cities in Finland. Sponda's business concept is to own, lease and develop retail and office properties and shopping centres into environments that promote the business success of its clients. The fair value of Sponda's investment properties is approximately EUR 3.8 billion and the leasable area is around 1.2 million m².

A photo accompanying this announcement is available at http://www.globenewswire.com/NewsRoom/Attachm...d4a8937db4