Heureka
Heureka is a science center in the Tikkurila district of Vantaa, Finland, north of Helsinki, designed by Heikkinen – Komonen Architects. It is located at the intersection of the Finnish Main Line and the river Keravanjoki.
The aim of the science centre, which opened its doors to the public in 1989, is to popularise scientific information and to develop the methods used to teach science and scientific concepts. The science centre provides opportunities to become familiar with science and technology through varying exhibitions, a planetarium, an idea workshop, educational programs and events. Heureka is one of the largest leisure centres in Finland, with about 300 thousand visitors per year.
The name "Heureka" refers to the Greek exclamation, presumably uttered by Archimedes, to mean "I've found it!". The Science Centre Heureka features both indoor and outdoor interactive exhibitions with exhibits that enable visitors to independently test different concepts and ideas. There is also a digital planetarium with 135 seats.
The Heureka Science Centre is a non-profit organization run by the Finnish Science Centre Foundation. The Finnish Science Centre Foundation is a broadly based co-operation organization that includes the Finnish scientific community, education sector, trade and industry, and national and local government. The ten background organisations of the Foundation support, develop and actively participate in the activities of Heureka. The foundation's highest body is the Board of Trustees, whose decisions are implemented by the Governing Board. Everyday activities are the responsibility of Heureka's director assisted by a management team and other staff. Since September 2020, the director of Heureka has been Mikko Myllykoski.
History
The roots of the Finnish Science Centre Heureka can be traced back to the University of Helsinki and scientists, who had become acquainted with different science centres located around the world. The initial spark was lit by Adjunct Professors Tapio Markkanen, Hannu I. Miettinen and Heikki Oja. It all began with the Physics 82 exhibition held at the House of the Estates in Helsinki on 20–26 May 1982. During autumn of that same year, the science centre project was launched with the initial support of the Academy of Finland, the Ministry of Education, and various foundations. The project led to the establishment of the Finnish Science Centre Foundation during 1983-1984. The original founding members of the foundation included the University of Helsinki, the Helsinki University of Technology, the Federation of Finnish Learned Societies, and the Confederation of Industries.In 1984, the City of Vantaa offered to be the host city and partial financier for the Science Centre, and also designated a property lot located in the southern end of Tikkurila as the future site of the centre. The total cost of the building was 80 million Finnish markka, or about 13.5 million euro. An architectural competition, held in 1985, turned out two first prizes from which the winning design was selected; namely the "Heureka" design submitted by Mikko Heikkinen, Markku Komonen and Lauri Anttila.
Before the building was completed, a number of test exhibitions were set up at other sites: Fysiikka -82 at the House of Estates, the medical exhibition Pulssi at the Tali tennis centre in spring 1985, Vipunen about the Finnish people and language at the House of Estates in autumn 1985, the aquatic exhibition AQUA 86 at Messukeskus Helsinki in spring 1986 and the technical and scientific exhibition Teknorama at Messukeskus Helsinki in spring 1987. The interior plan for the Science Centre was completed in 1986. The foundation for the building was laid in October 1987, and the construction work was completed one year later. The overall area of the building is 8,200 m², of which 2,800 m² is exhibition space. The Finnish Science Centre Heureka opened its doors to the public on 28 April 1989.
Building
The building consists of an auditorium, meeting rooms, a planetarium, a restaurant and a shop. The facade of the building facing the railway track makes use of mirror glass, intended to shield the building from the noise caused by the trains. The structures in the facade are phased into 31 parts of a whole of a hundred metres of length, with the corresponding spectral colours based on a laboratory analysis and special paints made based on it. The coating of the outer walls of the pillar hall uses pretensed white concrete slabs one inch thick. The shell elements have been sandblasted on their surface and are 60 × 120 cm in area.The central inner space and architectural focus point of the science centre is its 14-metre-tall cylindrical exhibition hall. The pillar module of the main exhibition space is 9.6 metres in both height and width. Its pillars consist of sub-pillars, with four in the central area, two on each edge and one in each corner. This structure is intended to visualise the relative distribution of load.
The main exhibition space is surrounded by the pillar hall and an arc hall supported by laminated beam arcs. The sphere of the planetarium and the sector-shaped auditorium intersect and enter into the modular pillar hall, and partly into each other. Each part of the building is fitted with a structural system developed specifically for it. In terms of structures and materials, the science centre is a kind of a conglomeration. It contains concrete, steel and wood constructs. The building has mostly been built from pre-built components, but it also contains some parts built in place.
The base floor of the exhibition spaces contains a semi-heated service space for the building services engineering elements needed by the exhibition. The outlets and connection possibilities have been systematically placed in a 2.4 metre grid into the entire building. This allows for enough flexibility to host exhibitions.
Interior
The cylindrical main exhibition hall was inspired by an exhibition designed by Gunnar Asplund at the Stockholm city library and houses about 200 exhibits related to different fields of science. Stable exhibits in the area include a Foucault pendulum and a wire wheel at the ceiling. The content of the main exhibition is renewed every couple of years.The main exhibition was renewed completely in 1999, but there are small changes taking place in the main exhibition hall each year as well. The cylindrical main exhibition hall houses many exhibits related to various fields of science. The topics include, for example, digestion and the functions of the intestines, the production of money and traffic. The exhibition "The Wind in the Bowels" has been designed in co-operation with the Finnish Medical Society Duodecim. The exhibition "About a Coin" was implemented through collaboration with the Mint of Finland to mark the company's 150th anniversary. The exhibition Intelligent City is about utilising information technology in improving the functionality, safety, energy effectiveness and environmental friendliness of a city.
As an extension of the main exhibition, the Heureka Classics exhibition was opened in 2009 in honour of Heureka's 20th anniversary, and hosts a collection of favourites both from Heureka and from other science centres. The exhibition shows various prominent physical phenomena, which can be experienced by the entire body. Illusion exhibits show how the cooperation between the brain and the senses create amazing phenomena inside our heads. From the beginning of August 2009, Heureka has also had the Science on a Sphere exhibit on display. This exhibit is a large sphere created by the American National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, with various demonstrations of the climate, the oceans, the landmasses and astronomical objects projected on its surface.
In addition to the main exhibition, Heureka generally also houses two temporary exhibitions. The topics of past temporary exhibitions have included, for example, dinosaurs, humans, sports, forests, the art of film, flying and ancient cultures. Since Heureka's opening, the most successful exhibitions have been the dinosaur exhibitions. The 2001 exhibition about the family life of dinosaurs, for example, attracted 406,000 visitors. Many of the exhibitions independently produced by Heureka have made guest appearances in numerous science centres all over the world. Heureka also features exhibitions imported from abroad.
Outdoor areas
Heureka's outdoor exhibition area, Science Park Galilei, opened in 2002. This area of the centre can be visited annually during the summer season. Galilei is a sort of "scientific playground". The 7,500 m² area holds dozens of exhibits, many of which feature water as the primary element. The exhibits are based on mathematical, physical and musical phenomena. The outdoor park also contains moving works of art, such as the sand plotter created by well-known Finnish artist Osmo Valtonen. Galilei also features an arboretum with species of conifers from the northern hemisphere.The area in front of Heureka features a permanent bedrock exhibition, which contains both common and rare types of rocks found in Finland's bedrock. The rocks are situated to reflect their distribution throughout different geographical provinces of Finland. The purpose of the bedrock exhibition is to show visitors of the science centre that the message of the science centre is not limited to technical achievements, but also extends to the long cycle of nature and culture. Leading up to the front entrance, visitors are also greeted by perennial gardens that were planted in accordance with the historical classification system designed by Carolus Linnaeus. The front of the entrance is tiled in Penrose tiling.