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VTT Mining Technology Laboratory
Metallimiehenkuja 2, Espoo (Helsinki)
1954 - 1955
As one of the oldest buildings of the Otaniemi campus, the VTT Mining Technology Laboratory was completed in 1955. Design work by Alvar Aalto had started only the previous year. The nearly square-shaped building contained laboratories, machine rooms, a crushing plant and other rooms. In 1962 the building was extended with the addition of a long volume on the north-east end of the original construction. As most of the buildings on the campus, the Mining Technology Laboratory appears as a red brick building and is covered with back-to-back monopitched roofs. Part of the building is only one storey high, while the other part is two storeys high. The ground level of the building is slightly raised above terrain, so that the basement rooms receive some natural light. The building is accessed through the entrance on the north-east side. On the entrance there is a large hall lit by a window above the door and covered with a vertical grille on the exterior. Under the direction of Elissa Aalto small alterations were carried out after Alvar Aalto's death.