Parliament House, Helsinki

The Parliament House, representing Nordic classicism and designed by architect J.S. Sirén, was completed in 1931 and stands on Arkadianmäki on a plinth formed by a high staircase. The building's main facade is characterised by a central risalit projecting from the facade with massive columns. The columns, rising to the height of the fourth floor, support the entablature above them and give the main facade its dominant role in the building's exterior.

The circular windows in the frieze above the entablature serve both as ornamental elements and as light openings. The Parliament House and its monumental steps are flanked by side wings that anchor the building to the surrounding terrain and emphasise its scale. At the core of the cube-shaped building is the round, cylindrical plenary chamber extending through three floors and receiving its light from a lantern.

In the rest of the building spreading around the chamber, the other spaces run hierarchically and functionally around the central hall. The plenary chamber is flanked by public galleries separated from the chamber by columns. The most conspicuous elements of the unadorned space are sculptor Wäinö Aaltonen's sculptures set into the wall niches, symbolising Finnish work and the future.