Puhos Shopping Center Documents 60 Years

Cultural producer Joonas Kervinen and photographer Sami Mannerheimo published a book detailing the 60-year history of the Puhos shopping center in Helsinki, Finland. The book traces the center’s transformation from a gray concrete structure to a uniquely multicultural commercial hub in East Helsinki’s Puotinharju district. Kervinen and Mannerheimo developed the idea for the book while organizing events and reporting on the community.

The authors document daily life, celebrations, food, and entrepreneurship within Puhos, noting roughly 20 percent of Helsinki residents speak a language other than Finnish, Swedish, or Sami as their mother tongue. They compare the center to Oslo’s Vulkan, recognizing Puhos as one of Europe’s most distinctive communities.

However, the book also addresses the threat of gentrification. Plans to renovate Puhos include demolishing and redeveloping two sections of the center, raising concerns about losing the area’s unique character.

The authors suggest architectural renderings of the planned renovations risk returning the center to a more sterile, conventional state. Work to document and understand Puhos continues as the area faces change.