Ruka

Ruka Ski Center, Finland’s largest ski resort based upon visitation, is located 800 km north of Helsinki. As an established destination resort, Ruka offers numerous summer and winter activities to its guests. Ecosign was engaged in 2002 to provide expertise on ongoing visitor circulation problems as well as improve the overall quality of the resort through expanding alpine skiing, accommodation and base area facilities. The Master Plan incorporated a development capacity analysis for the land around the base area of the ski slopes to find the optimum location for base area development zones. Two high-density development areas were proposed, each with their own village concept, as well as a day skier base. Subsequent to preparation of a detailed Village Master Plan, Ecosign assisted the town of Kuusamo and the ski area operator to adopt a strategy to facilitate development. After several years of planning and construction, the main portions of the pedestrian village at Lansi-Ruka were completed in 2010. This village now offers more than 1,000 visitor beds, 15 restaurants, 10 shops and 360 underground parking spaces in a compact pedestrian zone at the base of the slopes. The new village is proving very popular as skier visits at Ruka Ski Center have grown from 274,000 in 1999/2000 to 405,000 in 2017/2018.