“The Market Hall of the Future is a place of participation and experience instead of a traditional building for shopping. Kangasala’s Lifestyle Hub is a design symbiosis of service design, concept development, and architectural design.”

Case Lifestyle Hub Kangasala

Locating 15 minutes from Tampere, Kangasala is one of the fastest-growing municipalities in the Pirkanmaa region. Thanks to the ambitious development work of the city, the center of Kangasala will change a lot in the next few years. A new hotel and an extension of the indoor swimming center have been completed, and a new parking garage will be completed towards the end of the year 2019. A new bus station and residential buildings are coming to the west side of the market square. The development of the whole center aims to revitalize the area and make it an interesting place to spend time. One of the most interesting pieces of this “city center puzzle” is the future-oriented market hall – Lifestyle Hub, locating in the middle of the market square.

The Pirkanmaa region is a hub for local food production. Within a 100 km radius of Kangasala market square, there are nearly 300 local food producers ranging from wineries to chocolate factories and Black Angus kettle farmers to ice cream artisans. In addition, there are several manufacturers of handicraft products in the area. Located in the city’s prime location, Lifestyle Hub is not only about attracting people to buy and consume but also about participating and learning about food. The idea is to bring regional local food to a new kind of pedestal. The aim is to make tasty and locally produced food and raw materials available as well as expanding producers’ markets. Lifestyle Hub invites different user segments (customers, service providers, producers, entrepreneurs) to participate in its activities, facilities, and services. Events, a multi-use space, and a food-lab-like kitchen, meeting rooms and lounges, greenhouse, educational activities around the food, and low-threshold sales opportunities create the look and feel of Lifestyle Hub users. Instead of a traditional “shopping place”, the intention is to take on a meaningful and interesting role of a public place in Kangasala City, thus raising the regional local food to its worthy footing. The aim is to make accessible and locally produced food and ingredients more accessible. Kangasala’s Lifestyle Hub will be a new landmark in the city center and an attractive place to visit.

Kangasala’s Lifestyle Hub will be a new landmark in the city center and an attractive place to visit. In addition to the actual market hall, Lifestyle Hub offers a variety of restaurants from street kitchens to a brewery restaurant, a living room for hanging out with city dwellers, a greenhouse to grow herbs, a food-lab kitchen called “Kyökki” and a 24/7 “service node” for shipping bags and packages. Shared warehouses and waste solutions also serve neighbouring market square stall entrepreneurs. The Lifestyle Hub can be used in a wide variety of events, as well as for courses and educational events. Connected to the market square, it is possible to organize more diverse events, festivals and markets in the center of Kangasala.

In this project Lifestyle Hub, we have service designed the future market hall environment, created the brand content, and designed commercial and functional concepts through participatory design methods, developed business models and designed the architecture of the Lifestyle Hub.