Highlights

History

Before the current sulphate pulp mill was built in Sunila, the area housed a sawmill whose origins date back to the industrial boom of the 1870s. By the 1920s, the sawmill had become unprofitable. However, Sunila’s location—next to the Kymi River where it flows into the sea and close to the port of Kotka—remained attractive to industrial companies. In 1928, this led to the founding of Sunila Oy, established by several major Finnish forest industry companies. Sunila was becoming a nationally significant industrial consortium—unprecedented in Finland at the time.

As the economic upswing of the 1930s began, Lauri Kanto, the technical director of the Halla plant, was hired to design the technical specifications, cost calculations, and profitability forecasts for the emerging sulphate pulp mill. The chosen location was Pyötinen Island at the southern tip of Sunila, and construction was planned to begin on a tight schedule. Harry Gullichsen, CEO of Ahlström, became chairman of the board of Sunila Oy, and Lauri Kanto was appointed managing director. Gullichsen’s role led to his recommendation that architect Alvar Aalto’s office be hired to design the residential area and factory. Aalto visited Sunila for the first time in summer 1936 and began designing rapidly, in close cooperation with Lauri Kanto’s technical vision.

Aalto’s first tasks were to design the town plan and the residential buildings closest to the factory, including the factory director’s house (Kantola) and homes for engineers and supervisors. These, along with the first worker apartment blocks, were completed in 1937, and construction of the factory began that summer.

Both Aalto and Kanto shared the belief that Sunila should offer a higher standard of living than was typical at the time, and provide a quality social environment for all residents, including factory workers. For example, every apartment had running hot water and indoor toilets—exceptional for that era. Aalto also designed shared-use buildings for the community, such as a sauna and laundry building, post office, bus stop, and heating stations.

Sunila’s residents and workers took great pride in their community and factory. Sunila became a national symbol of industrial and modern Finland. The project was presented as a concept at the 1937 Paris World’s Fair and its implementation showcased at the 1939 New York World’s Fair—both exhibitions for which Aino and Alvar Aalto designed the Finnish pavilions. The factory also provided essential public services and promoted a strong sense of community by supporting various sports, hobbies, and organizations. Wages at the Sunila plant were also above average.

However, the war years and postwar scarcity meant that the factory only approached its production goals in the late 1940s and early 1950s, marking the beginning of a period of growth. Additional housing was built first, followed by technical upgrades and expansions of the factory. A new elementary school for Sunila was also completed in 1950 (not designed by the Aaltos). By the mid-1950s, the Sunila factory community had reached its peak, with about 1,700 residents.

In the 1970s and 1980s, the integrated factory-residential community began to dissolve as the factory sold off housing units, which were converted into private housing cooperatives. As industrial technology progressed, the factory needed fewer workers even as production increased. By the factory’s final years, Sunila’s residential area no longer housed more factory workers than any other part of Kotka. Although the apartments are considered small by modern family standards, there is growing interest in them for vacation use and short-term accommodation alongside traditional living.