Koskenkorvan tehtaat

English translation (from the Finnish)

The text above is the record as published by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto), in Finnish. The English below is a machine translation made by TreeAlive, not by the Finnish Heritage Agency (Museovirasto); it has not been checked by a person. Where the two differ, the original is the record. Report a translation error: privacy@treealive.com

Description

The Koskenkorva factories, with their building groups from the 1930s and 1970s, form an authentic, chronologically layered ensemble of high-quality industrial architecture that remains in its original use.

The 1930s and 1970s building groups of the Koskenkorva factory, built alongside the Kyrönjoki river and the Suupohjan rautatie, are the area's two key reference points. The first-phase red-brick factory buildings form a compact area of two building groups, containing the old factory, which operates as an office, and the power plant. The old factory still retains its original equipment. The architecturally handsome factory was raised in 1967.

The 1970s extension, the distillery, is a tight building group designed by Einari Teräsvirta. There is a large open field between the new buildings and the old factory.

The 1980s buildings form their own group within the factory area. They are connected to the 1970s distillery by a glass link, which acts as a vertical element within the mass of horizontal silos and other buildings. The tall silos, also from the 1980s, form a landscape landmark, especially when approaching from Vaasa. In addition, the area contains many tanks and other structures related to process industry. Jukka Aittola has worked as the architect since the late 1980s.

A few residential buildings have been demolished from the factory area. The managing director's residence was designed by Erkki Huttunen. It serves as the company's guest accommodation.

The main product of the factory today is grain spirit; in addition, starch and feed are produced. Process power is obtained from the factory's own peat-fired power plant, and groundwater is drawn from the factory area through its own water supply system.

History

Oy Alkoholiliike Ab made the decision to establish the Koskenkorva factory in 1938, and construction of the factory began the following year. Apart from Ilmajoki, other localities were also considered as sites for the factory, but western Finland was at that time given priority for political reasons. The area was also favourable for a spirit factory from the point of view of potato production. A precondition for the factory's location was also the Suupohjan rata, which had been completed in 1913.

The factory was completed in 1940 to a design by Erkki Huttunen, but production only started after the war, in 1945. The construction drew on drawings of the spirit factory that had been in Enso, but at Koskenkorva an innovative semicircular basin section was built into the factory building, in which the vats were then filled centrally, all at once.

The factory settled into an existing village structure. On the bank of the rapids there had already been mills, a dairy, and a steam sawmill established in 1936, which has since been demolished. No real industrial community grew up around the Koskenkorva factory, and the factory produced relatively few residential buildings. The factory probably contributed to the school extension. The factory built three terraced houses in 1971-1972. These so-called arabikylä houses, originally with flat roofs, were later changed to pitched roofs.

In the early 1970s a significant extension of the distillery took place, when a second compact building group was built along with other smaller complexes. A second major extension took place in 1987, when the barley spirit process was introduced.