In early 1930 the decision to build a mill in Viipuri was made and after three preliminary studies, the final design for the building was ready by October 1930. The internal volume of the building in the drawings was 53,500 m³, but that figure increased notably with the later additions.

The building is located 200 meters from the pier. An enclosed conveyor belt rides high above ground, connecting the pier and the building.

The building is founded on bedrock and the structural frame is of reinforced concrete columns. The mill wing, between the warehouse and silos, at the bottom of the "U", has an iron frame, with wooden floors. The walls are made of brick and stuccoed in white. Both the mill and warehouse wings are six storeys tall.

The construction of the 30 m tall silos was the first occasion in Finland that a concrete structure was cast using sliding shutterings, and the work gained also international notice. Each of the silos has a diameter of 5.5 meters. Originally only six rows of silos out of the planned nine was built, the three rows being finally added in 1935.

The reinforced concrete tower with its observation platform and flagstaff rise to the height of 50 meters.

In 1935 a six-storey wing for bakery was added to the west side, extending to the other side of the railway tracks, and in 1937 an extension for the bakery was built between the north ends of the warehouse and silos, closing the opening in the "U" of the original plan.

The building became an icon of a sort for the emerging Functionalism in Finland, and not only did it symbolize the modern approach of the S.O.K. (an image of the building was used in S.O.K. flour packages), but it was also positively noticed in international architectural press.

The building today

The simple form of the building, the composition of the openings on the entrance side and the ever-present white-stuccoed surface acted as text-book examples of Functionalism. The facade even belied the use of a mono-pitched roof instead of the flat roof.

The station came to use in January 1932. Due to the insufficient capacity of the original station, Uno Ullberg designed in 1935 extension plans in which the building was both expanded and raised in height.

The building today

The completed library building is based on the Classicist winning proposition by Alvar Aalto in the 1927 design competition, for a site in Torkkelinpuisto park at Aleksanterinkatu street (later called Karjalankatu).

The second (1928) and third (1929, alterations until 1932) design stage introduced Functionalist features like strip windows and the stairway glass wall. The Classicist features were drastically reduced, although still present. Aalto's other contemporary designs, for example the Turun Sanomat Building, drew their inspiration similarly from the foreign Modernist examples.

The starting of the planned construction work in 1929 was however delayed by the depression, and as the location of the library was being contested and argued, the starting was further delayed. The changing of the final building site to the south-eastern side of Torkkelinpuisto in September 1933 allowed Aalto to start design work anew, this time using Functionalist ideas from the beginning.

In two months Aalto's bureau coughed up the new design and construction work was started in April 1934. The building was inaugurated on 13 October 1935.

The building is massed as two distinct and differing volumes: the long auditorium wing which houses the main entrance, the auditorium and offices on the north side of the building, and the main library portion as a cubic mass that houses the main library, reading room, children's library and newspaper reading room (the last two with separate entrances from the south side and the south-eastern end, respectively). The library book storage is located in the basement under the auditorium wing and partly under the library.

The auditorium wing has large windows on both floors, whereas the function of the library portion dictated the solid walls used in the upper floors. The newspaper reading room and children's library in the basement floor had large windows set above the bookshelves along the wall.

Auditorium wing structures are of concrete and steel and brickwork. The roof of auditorium is supported by steel columns. The library walls are of solid brickwork, 75 cm in thickness. The concrete slab ceiling spanning 18 meters is supported by reinforced concrete beams. 57 round skylights on the ceiling of the library hall were designed to provide indirect lighting, as were the artificial lighting fixtures. The ceilings in the library portion and hall also incorporated the heating pipes for the innovative ceiling radiator heating.

Although the library was a pioneering work of "modern" Functionalism, it, like the Paimio Sanatorium furniture, had wood as a notable ingredient of the interior design in ceilings, details and furniture. Aalto's three-legged stool of world renown, for example, originated from the library commission.

As one of the most famous features of the library, the auditorium had a 58 m² undulating wooden ceiling that was the fruit of Aalto's acoustical studies and his experiences from church restorations.

The building today

The building consists of a seven-storey warehouse wing in the middle of the "U", with the entrance and the obligatory tower theme facing south. The wing is characterized by its cubic forms and employment of the narrow strip window, like in the neighbouring S.O.K. building.

A two-storey wing extended at an angle from the warehouse mass, with regular pattern of window openings, housing on the ground floor the Viipuri co-op harbour restaurant and on the second floor the O.T.K. regional offices.

Parallel to the office wing, another wing shot out from the other end of the warehouse mass, completing the "U" of the plan.

The seven-storey building occupies a plot on the south side of Salakkalahti bay. The main facade above the ground floor consists of glass-walled floors separated by horizontal stripes of white-stuccoed wall. Similarly, the stair towers at the ends of the facade are completely glass-walled. The top floor is set back and also had a strip window.

The first four floors were for the use of the company departments and also housed storage space. The next two floors housed offices and managers' apartments of 6 rooms and kitchen. The top floor was for company meeting rooms.

This building represents the most drastic application of the themes of the International Style in Viipuri (and perhaps in whole of Finland until the 1950s).

On the south side the lower wings enclose a storage yard from all sides.

The building today

The design work was started by the then-town architect Ullberg and completed by his successor, Ypyä. The main mass maintains its slab-like form and regular fenestration, interrupted only by the protruding entrance and stair tower.

The building was the second fully-equipped maternity hospital in Finland and housed 130 beds for patients. The lower wing on the southern end housed doctors' apartments.

The building today

Like the other Functionalist warehouses in South Harbour, also this has massing with two distict themes: the single, taller mass and the lower wing(s). The eastern end of the building has the five-storey, cubic mass with the entrance and office space as well as the stairway tower, ending in a flagstaff. The windows are rectangular openings on the stuccoed wall. The long, three-storey mass of the warehouse with strip windows extends to the west.

As the ground on the plot consists of exposed rock, the building was founded directly on bedrock. The five-storey slab has extremely austere decoration apart from the regular openings, the only relief coming from the entrance wing and its brickwork facade. The building was finished with a relief sculpture of Mercury next to the entrances. On the south side the fenestration is arranged as a series of window rows.

The building today

The building plot housed originally the so-called corner market hall, which was demolished out of the way, to the annoyance of many.

The seven-storey, apartment and office/retail blocks occupy the ends of the plot. The longer, two-stair building facing the Punaisenlähteentori square also housed a restaurant and a cinema. The facades were originally blue-stuccoed in two tones.

The bank itself is located in a separate two-storey building between the two apartment blocks and differs from them by its tomblike, Classistic appearance and its light-gray, steatite-clad facade. In summer 1944 the bank vault housed the headquarters of the brigade that was sent to defend Viipuri.

The building today

The point-block building represents the typical, clear-cut style of residential Functionalism.

The six-storey L-plan building has the typical prominent tower motif on the south-western corner and a series of canted living-room windows forming protrusions. The retail spaces below with their floor-to-ceiling windows protrude from the main mass.

The design was chosen in a competition in April 1938 -- the 11-storey building was designed as the tallest in Viipuri, its "skyscraper".

The plan of the building is a wedge between the Kannaksenkatu and Brahenkatu streets and the two "end" facades curve accordingly, although the bold strip-windowed appearance of the competition entry has been compromised in actual execution.

The first two floors were for offices and the rest were residential, with the topmost set-back. The second floor office space protrudes from the main mass throughout the building, as do the wings flanking the rounded facade and incorporating the balconies.