AINOA – Shopping Center

AINOA was named the best shopping center in the Nordic countries in 2024

The hybrid building complex AINOA comprises a bus terminal, a shopping centre, and six residential buildings.

In recent decades, the southern part of Tapiola has become a major employment area as office buildings have been built. As part of the AINOA shopping centre project, the elevation of Merituulentie that used to divide the area into southern and northern parts was dropped by one storey, and the shopping centre was constructed across the street as a bridge-like structure at the same level as the pedestrian routes. This setup allows for smooth connections in pedestrian traffic between the north and south sides.

The shopping center has three above-grade floors, comprised of predominantly flexible retail space. On the first floor, a shopping corridor links three plazas containing vertical circulation cores; the corridor on the second floor links two such plazas along one curving passageway. The free-form geometry of the corridor and the plazas naturally creates widening points along the route. Shopping center entrances are on all four cardinal sides.

The lowest floor of the shopping center houses fast-service retail units, restaurants and grocery shops, directly adjacent to the Tapiola bus terminal built within the scheme.

The street-facing first and second floors accommodate additional retail units and restaurants. Third floor houses a restaurant cluster as well as fitness and commercial premises. Above the three retail floors sit the building services, HVAC plant rooms, the residential deck (Kirjokansi), and the residential buildings themselves (five apartment blocks and one low-rise residential building). The residential buildings contain a total of 335 apartments and their deck forms a green roofscape for the shopping centre, reintroducing vegetation to the building site.

The elevators and escalators of Tapiola metro station rise to the western edge of the shopping centre. From the metro’s vertical circulation core, one can enter the M-level of the shopping centre through the bus terminal or get to the first and second-floor shopping corridors directly.

The façades oriented north and east are double façades, where a white perforated suspended concrete cladding is installed in front of the primary exterior wall. The cavity between the façades is provided with lighting and advertising elements.

Public interior spaces of the shopping centre are made of first-class materials. The oak veneer used in the parts of the suspended ceilings of the shopping corridors is also used in shop window frames. The corridor color scheme evokes the atmosphere of a high-quality living room. Indoor plants, green walls, and green ceiling connect the interior with the garden-city theme of Tapiola.

The construction was divided into two phases; the first phase was from 2014 to 2017, and the second phase was from 2017 to 2019.

The AINOA shopping center has been awarded LEED Platinum certification. AINOA was named the best shopping center in the Nordic countries in 2024, by the Nordic Association of Shopping Centers NCSC.