Department of Mechanical Engineering

Mechanical engineering laboratories in Helsinki

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At the beginning of the 20th century, the machines and collections required for technical exercises were spread around the Polytechnic College's main building in an unfavourable manner. The need to build mechanical engineering laboratories was noted by the school's teachers as early as 1904.

The teachers' collegium presented a laboratory plan, after which's approval the government took over the Kottarainen (Starling) block in Helsinki – delimited by Albertinkatu, Eerikinkatu and Vladimirinkatu (now Kalevankatu) – as the location for laboratories for technology education.

The nine buildings on the site were made available to technical laboratories from the beginning of 1911. The collections occupied the stone buildings, while the wooden buildings housed weaving, metal and wood processing laboratories as well as a paper mill laboratory.

The new facilities eased the overcrowding of the main building, but the laboratory issue still required proper investment. The outbreak of the World War I in 1914 halted the development of the school's facilities programme for roughly ten years. Proposals to move the school to Taka-Töölö or Meilahti had to be shelved as well.

Proper technical laboratories were established in new buildings built in the 1920s and 1930s.

History of mechanical engineering in Finland

Department of Mechanical Engineering
Department of Mechanical Engineering
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