Concept Plan

In September 2018, HYY Group (now known as Ylva) acquired the Hotel Seurahuone building from Sponda, in the heart of Helsinki. The aim of Ylva is to combine Seurahuone and some of the premises of the New Student House into one high-standard hotel. In partnership with HYY, we developed a concept for combining the hotel during the autumn, including the preliminary layouts required by the operator and authority, area calculations, exemplar room plans, and accompanying visualizations.

As a result of the project, the purpose of the above-mentioned buildings, which belong to the Kaivopiha block of architectural importance, continues to follow a long historical path. The legendary Hotel Hansa operated in the premises of the new Student House between 1924 and 1968, and a hotel has operated in the premises of Seurahuone since 1912.

“A new, internationally attractive hotel complex is being created in the heart of Helsinki. Planning for a thorough renovation of the premises continues. The aim is to open the new hotel with about 240 rooms in the spring of 2021. The hotel is now seeking an operator: either an international chain or a domestic operator”, said Antti Kerppola, Managing Director of HYY Group, in the Talouselämä magazine on 28.9.2018.

The work will continue in 2019 with the planning phase and building permit process, with Jaakko Hassi as the lead designer.