EMBASSY OF FINLAND

The Embassy of Finland sits on Darwin Avenue in Yarralumla, the oldest of Canberra’s diplomatic estates. The chancery was designed by Finnish architect Vesa Huttunen of Hirvonen-Huttunen, who won the commission in a 1997 competition, with MGT Architects in Sydney as project architects. It opened in February 2002.

The building is named Ilmarinen, after a Finnish coastal defence ship sunk during the Second World War, and the ship idea runs right through it. It’s a long layered box of glass, stainless steel, timber and concrete, with a timber entry deck, steel panelling and a gang-plank out to the sauna in the garden, all lined up towards Black Mountain.

Darwin Avenue, Yarralumla ACT