Lapinlahti has been called the flagship of Finnish psychiatry. Designed by Carl Ludvig Engel, the hospital was built by Russian emperor’s order and completed in 1841. The history of Lapinlahti Hospital is associated with many Finnish celebrities, including the Finnish national author Aleksis Kivi, who was being treated for chronic melancholy during the years 1871–1872, and Christian Sibelius, the brother of Jean Sibelius, who served as chief physician of the hospital in the early 20th century.
The oldest public sauna in Helsinki can also be found in the hospital area. The sauna building, completed in the 1880s, was once built for the use of both personnel and patients. Nowadays, the sauna has public sauna shifts and can also be booked for private use.
Last hospital units in the premises of Lapinlahti were some psychiatric departments of Hospital District of Helsinki and Uusimaa. Hospital operations ended in December 2008 when last departments moved to the HUS Psychiatry Center.
KK-Palokonsultti Oy participated in the renovation of Lapinlahti Hospital. The work was commissioned by the Helsingin Kaupungin Tilakeskus. Our partners in the project were architectural offices Arkkitehtitoimisto Leena Yli-Lonttinen Ky and Arkkitehtitoimisto Koskinen & Schalin Oy.
The goal of our design work was to maintain fire safety requirements at a sufficient level in a building that is more than 100 years old. We applied the new regulations on a case-by-case basis for each structure and facility and strived for the best possible level of fire safety, taking into account the protection of the building. The maintenance repair of Lapinlahti Hospital was completed in 2013.
Our services in the project
- fire safety engineering
- fire block design
- plans for smoke clearance
- authority negotiations
- consulting for other designers.
