Kastelholm Castle is the last of the four largest castles in Finland to be restored, and our office has been involved in the planning for about three decades.

Renovation and restoration would prevent the castle from weakening, making the castle suited for general usage through museums, while increasing the attraction of its entire historic area, whose main monument is the castle. (Our office has also been responsible for the architectural design of the restoration of Vita Björn’s old prison agency in the area.)

Regarding the destroyed structures, it was decided to avoid reconstructions due to incomplete documentation. Thus, the castle is a cold castle ruin, which functions as an exhibition space itself, of which only a part (the so-called northern peak) is a heated museum space.

New structural additions, such as corridors, stairs and canopies, have been mainly made for places where similar constructions have been found before but are now designed “modern architecture”.

The subject is presented in detail in ARK 2/2007.