War reporter Antti Kuronen gave Architecture to Finlandia’s new football stadium in Tampere

Tampere

To Tampere the Tammela stadium located in the center receives this year’s Finlandia Award for Architecture.

Among the candidates, the winner was chosen by a war reporter Antti Kuronen. He was impressed by how the stadium has been adapted to a rather small plot in the middle of the residential blocks of the Tammela district.

“The stadium was not built as a monument that outsiders should admire. On the contrary, it is built as a secret soccer sanctuary that only opens when you enter from the street. An ignorant passer-by could pass by the place without realizing that there is a spacious football stadium next to it,” says Kuronen in his reasoning.

“It’s also good that the block has not only been dedicated to football, but others also benefit from it,” praises Kuronen.

HS went to Tampere to find out what this brand new stadium is really like and how it works.

And above all: why exactly Tampere has been successful in terms of the number of its sports holidays – and now it has been proven also in terms of quality!

We step with the photographer inside the stadium through the same door where the players arrive to work.

A direct view of the stadium opens right from the lobby. Stadium manager presenting seats to HS Toni Hevonkorven according to this is essential.

“The players immediately get the right feeling when they first see the green surface of the field instead of concrete walkways.”

The year 1931 is painted above the door in the colors of Ilves, green and yellow.

In that year, both Tampere Ilves Urheiluseura and Tammela’s first ball field were founded in the same place, where the new stadium is now bathed in the bright light of early autumn.

Tammela Stadium serves as the home ground of the men’s football team playing in the Veikkausliiga, the women’s team playing in the National League, and Tampere United and TPV playing in Kakkos.

Practically nothing has been saved from the old wooden stadium, not even a single artifact.

The lobby on the left side opens a corridor that leads to the male players’ dressing room, the right corridor leads to the premises of the women’s team.

In the spacious lobby located in between, the players give comments to the media in a warm interior.

This is also new. Tammela is played all year round, and in the past player interviews were held outside under a canopy regardless of the weather.

The working conditions of the players have improved radically.

Both men’s and women’s changing rooms have more than 120 square meters of space and sauna, shower and dressing tables. Each player has their own padded bench.

Hevonkorpi says that it was different in the dressing rooms of the old stadium.

“There was adequate heating and hard wooden benches.”

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The standings of the Veikkausliiga have been built into the stairs.

Everywhere is neat and clean. Of course, it’s no wonder, after all, the stadium has only been in active use for half a year.

The most characteristic smell of sports sanctuaries, sweat, can only be smelled in the locker room of the men’s reserve teams, where jerseys from the previous training hang on the hangers.

The offices of the stadium company and Ilves moved to the fourth floor of the stadium last December. Training started in January. In April, the first matches were played at the new stadium.

For the first year of operation in 2024, there will already be well over two thousand events, when you count the training sessions, a hundred football matches with admission tickets, Lauri Tähkän concert and more than 190 other events.

We rise up the stairs to the office floor. The standings of the Veikkausliiga have been built into the stairs. It will be updated according to the situation.

Hevonkorpi begins to introduce numerous small modern wonders of the office floor.

“The most expensive room in the stadium” is the subcontracted production company’s own space, from which all the technology used in the stadium’s events is controlled: sounds, lights, LED surfaces, screens, as well as thirty digital surfaces and filming and recording of games.

There is a security center along the same corridor. From there, during public events, everything and everyone is monitored in real time through more than seventy security cameras.

“If, for example, a small child gets lost in the stadium, it will be possible to find him based on the signs with the help of artificial intelligence and these cameras.”

Next to the technical facilities, next door to the Ilves junior office, there is a surprise: the furniture store’s showroom.

During important games, the same space is transformed into a media room, where the presenters of TV channels’ sports reports are put on make-up and scripts are finalized.

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“We’ve already had two weddings here.”

I remember where all this was done during the old wooden stadium, that is, as recently as four years ago.

“Nowhere. The new stadium will only enable proper business,” Hevonkorpi states.

Office floor below is the VIP stand, which has yet another one of the stadium’s small specialties: heated leather seats.

“Each chair has its own switch, where the customer can turn on the heating themselves.”

In the VIP stand, some seats are for season ticket holders. The remaining seats are sold as individual tickets.

A heated seat with food and drink service costs around 150–200 euros, depending on the match.

The VIP restaurant next to the auditorium is also rented for private events. When HS visits the place, a company is holding its training day there.

“We’ve already had two weddings here,” says Hevonkorpi.

There is an unobstructed view of the field from everywhere. There are now more than 8,000 seats in the stands instead of around 5,000 before. There is room for about 15,000 people at the concerts.

For the spectators, it is important that almost all seats are protected from the rain. According to the stadium manager, it is at least as important that the end walls of the stadium are made of glass.

“The wind doesn’t blow through the glass. Thanks to that, it rarely gets really cold here, even when sitting outside. Glass as a material also offers good sound insulation.”

The atmosphere of the match remains high inside the stadium, even if the traffic is roaring nearby.

Outdoors feeling on the pitch is like being in a bright pool. The outer walls of the stadium do not form a massive gray wall, but a white cell, with a lot of natural light.

The apartment buildings of the independent housing stock company connected to the same property will rise on the east and west sides of the stadium.

Hevonkorpi says that several Ilves Veikkausliiga players have moved into the apartments connected to the stadium property. From some windows you can watch games for free.

Nokia Arena, Tammela stadium, Ratina stadium and Kaupi baseball stadium.

No other city in Finland can currently match Tampere in terms of the number and quality of nationally significant sports facilities.

with the mayor of Tampere Kalervo in Kummola has a clear view of what Tampere’s success with its sports holidays is due to.

“These don’t progress by luck,” Kummola tells HS in a phone interview.

“Success is based especially on the good spirit of unity that prevails in Tampere’s politics. We can agree on things.”

There are other variables as well.

One of the most important things is that already in the planning phase, Tampere has been able to look to the future.

“The most important sports arenas must be located in the city center. Nokiaa Arena and Tammela Stadium have proven this.”

“The carbon footprint is significantly smaller when using public transport. This is the direction we will go everywhere in the future.”