Hilton Hotel, Helsinki, Riverstone Architectural

Location: Helsinki-Vantaa Airport, Finland
Architect: Doos Arkitekter AB, Stockholm
Slate Used: SSQ Riverstone® architectural stone (Natural finish)

The 246-bedroom Hilton Helsinki-Vantaa Airport Hotel is the airport’s first ‘upscale’ hotel and offers travelers state-of-the-art facilities in a contemporary design with a Finnish theme. The hotel’s interior has been designed to reflect Finland’s dramatically rugged, yet enchantingly beautiful, landscape and draws inspiration from the country’s lakes, rock and forests.

Although indigenous Finnish limestone was initially considered for internal cladding in the reception area, its practicalities led the Hilton’s architects to specify SSQ Riverstone architectural stone, a non-indigenous alternative that has proved very successful in other Hilton Hotels presenting a similar natural theme.

Riverstone is a phyllite and has been used as a building material for centuries. With the decision made, around 300m2 of SSQ Riverstone architectural stone was used to clad specific walls in the hotel’s hi-tech reception area and Bar Gui with striking results; its use providing a perfect backdrop against which to present other materials that characterise Finland’s natural, national identity.