Ankkalinna – Headquarters of Salora Oy

In 1972, a building for the headquarters of the administration and product development of Salora Oy was completed. It immediately emerged as one of the key architectural landmarks of Salo: as a symbol for the city, and as a symbol for the new wealth that the company had brought to the municipality. The building was designed by Salo’s long-term city architect Lauri Hollmén, who was commissioned to design “something different and modern”. A horizontal, four-storey open-office building was created, with only the reception lobby located at street level. The building is connected to the older parts of the Salora factory by glass corridors. Furniture by designers such as Yrjö Kukkapuro and Charles and Ray Eames was purchased for the interiors. Following the trends of the time, the interior colours were green, orange and bluish grey, and on the outside, Salora’s headquarters were light blue. The top floor was surrounded by a wide viewing platform, and a light cube was built at the top of the building, onto which the text SALORA and the company’s swan logo were attached. Many residents of Salo thought that the animal in the logo resembled a duck rather than a swan, and so the headquarters of Salora were soon named “Ankkalinna” [Duckburg]. In 2000, at the twists and turns of the electronics industry in Salo, Ankkalinna was left empty. Later, in spring 2010, the building was transferred to new ownership and it is now part of the Astrum Centre.