In a new kind of shared room, residents share kitchens and bathrooms, but it's not about a student cell or old friends.
To the seaside A commune of the 2020s has been built in Helsinki. The roommates are working adults and not already a group of friends, but they have been able to choose their roommates themselves.
So this is not quite an ordinary roommate. The price is also surprising: you can get a room and access to the common facilities here in Kruunuvuorenranta for 400 euros.
The official name for this new form of living is a group rental apartment. We want more of these in Helsinki.
A religious studies researcher lives in this home Rosa Haimilaa poet Janika Haataja and landscape architect Sini Moilanen.
This is how the trio describes what is commendable about living together – and what difficulties are associated with it.
Commune. That's the word Moilanen uses for his home. So he is not talking about living in a cell, for example. It's easy to see why not.
The core issue is that previously unknown women have chosen each other when looking for a rental apartment at Turumankatu 11. That's why they also enjoy being together.
Haimila and Haataja applied for an apartment in this house when it was completed a little over two years ago. At the beginning, the landlord proposed to whom any apartment intended as a commune would be rented.
Then the proposed roommates met – remotely because there was a pandemic.
“I was initially offered another group of residents, but I refused. It felt like the group wasn't that functional for me,” says Haimila.
With Haataja, on the other hand, it felt gloomy.
“We met the residents of this apartment first remotely and then we went to eat together again. We got along well, so I decided to move here,” describes Haimila.
Moilanen applied for an apartment later. He was interviewed by Haimila and Haataja. Moilasen also had the opportunity to think about whether he would get along well with these women.
“When I saw who lived here, I thought I wanted to live here,” says Moilanen.
There is also a fourth resident, but he is not at home on the day of the interview. He is therefore not discussed in this article.
Turumankatu quite an intellectual community seems to have formed in the commune. Nowadays they are also friends. All three say that living together is going well.
“There are intellectual discussions every day”, Moilanen confirms the reporter's guess.
“Perhaps we have been lucky that there have been no difficulties,” says Haataja.
Cleaning shifts are marked on the board.
Haimila says that she was especially tired of living alone during the corona virus.
“I would never mind living in a studio again,” he says. In the commune, you can enter your home even if you forget your key.
Krunuvuorenrantan Turumankatu 11 is this company's first group rental building. Most of the building are ordinary rental apartments, but there are six of these apartments specifically designed as roommates.
You can apply to become a resident alone or in a ready-made group of 2–4 people. So you don't have to be, for example, a student.
For around 400 euros, this apartment gives you your own room and access to shared common spaces, such as the kitchen, living room and bathrooms. The apartment has 115 square meters.
You can rent more than one room in the apartment, so in principle even a family could live here.
The bedrooms in the corners of the apartment are spacious.
There is still a water fee on top of the rent, but compared to the price level in Helsinki, the price is affordable. With that money, you can get to Solu elsewhere, but even in Laajasalo, studios are currently being asked for more than 800 euros.
Construction is more affordable when common spaces are shared. However, the tenants have not chosen this out of financial necessity, but because they want to live like this.
When building the apartment, we also thought about how to get your own peace even when living together. The bedrooms have soundproof doors and are located in the corners of the apartment.
The spacious kitchen connects to the living room in a way that reminds one of an old time hut.
In communal living according to the trio, there are few disadvantages but many advantages.
“We organize jams where friends come,” says Haimila. They are played, sung, eaten and entertained.
No one has ever complained about the noise.
“And we haven't had to complain either,” says Moilanen.
The apartment has a keyboard instrument that can be played in jams. The sheet music offers the song I'll be there to play.
Messages are left on the refrigerator door. There are two refrigerators, as well as freezers.
When the going gets tough, the trio even comes up with a few small problems.
“You can't decide on the interior here alone,” says Haimila.
You could also have chosen the furniture provided by the landlord, but here the roommates have brought their own furniture. And lots of plants, all three have them.
“We have about a hundred plants here,” says Moilanen.
On the upper edge of the living room's south-facing window hangs a golden vine, which is wrapped around a branch brought from the nearby Stansvik forest. The nature trail is only a few hundred meters away.
Haataja, on the other hand, says that sometimes he misses his own peace.
Moilanen states that when one resident leaves, choosing a new roommate is quite a lot of work. Haimilaki mentions the additional work involved in choosing a roommate as a disadvantage, especially if you are really busy at work.
There are a hundred plants in the apartment. Everyone has brought their own. There are board games on the table in the living
room.
The area around Turumankatu 11 is densely built.
Kruunuvuorenranta is being built quickly. After the completion of Turumankatu 11, a lot has already been built around the house and more are being built all the time.
Construction sounds are indeed one of the disadvantages of the area, but in time they will no doubt die down. When Kruunuvuorensilta is completed, a quick connection to the inner city will be established.
A new type of shared apartment has been developed by Talli Arkkitehdit and A-Kruunu, which is owned by the state and under the Ministry of the Environment. Its task is not only to build affordable rental apartments, but also to promote new innovations in housing.
Here, in addition to cheaper construction costs, we are aiming for a sense of community.
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