More than 100,000 books, a meeting place and a masterpiece of modern architecture
There is a subject that should be included in all the faculties of Architecture in the world –with permission from Urban Planning, Structures and Projects–. You could take a couple of days, a week, or even a month, and still never finish studying.
The best of all? You can take it on your own, because the subject we are talking about would have a name like this: 'Visit Helsinki'.
And it is that the Finnish capital overflows architecture and design around every corner, when looking up, down, when stepping on each of its museums, its galleries, its green areas and... his new library: Oodi, which has just opened its doors.
Oodi has opened its doors in Kansalaistori square
The Helsinki Central Library project received more than 500 proposals coming from all over the world. Finally, the Finnish studio ** ALA Architects was the winner of the competition.**
OODI: MUCH MORE THAN A READING PLACE
The library, located in the heart of Helsinki, is a multifunctional space, open to all citizens from Monday to Sunday, which was born with the aim of becoming the new central point of the impressive network of public libraries in the city.
A surface more than 16,000 square meters, has become the largest library in the Helsinki metropolitan area, and it is estimated that it will receive an average of 5,000 visitors per day and 1.5 million per year.
“The basic services of the library will be free and public”, Jenni Pöyry, from Helsinki Marketing, told Traveler.es. In addition, throughout the enclosure there are exclusive spaces for children, silence and reading areas, and specific places for events.
Ultimately, Oodi plans to be much more than a library with 100,000 books, It will also be a meeting place, a reading house, an urban space, and even a masterpiece of modern architecture.
A LIBRARY OF CITIZENS FOR CITIZENS
Helsinki residents have actively participated in Oodi's design, expressing your wants and needs.
“The Unel-moi! campaign, carried out in 2013, received more than 2,300 ideas from citizens for the design of the library”, they tell from Oodi to Traveler.es.
The basic services of the library will be free and public
In the same year, the Helsinki Central Library was one of the first to test the participatory budget, allowing residents to decide which four pilots would receive €100,000 of available funds.
But the thing does not end there: the project Friends of the Central Library collected input from 28 developers on design, service functionality, and events.
Why oodi? The name was born from a competition in which all citizens could participate and that it received 2,600 proposals, 1,600 of them with different names.
“The name selected by the jury, proposed by Mirja Lounameri, was finally Oodi, which means ode in Finnish,” explains Jenni.
THREE FLOORS WITH THREE DIFFERENT ATMOSPHERES
Oodi has a glass and steel structure with a wooden facade, and each of its three floors has its own visual identity: an active ground floor, a quiet upper floor, and an intermediate space between them with more specific functions.
"The distribution on three floors is executed by building the library as a bridge, supported by two steel arches, that covers more than 100 meters over the open space of the ground floor”, they comment from ALA Architects.
"This is an innovative solution that creates a column-free zone to maximize access and visibility of the program within the public area", they explain.
What if we stay and live here?
The low level The library houses an auditorium, an exhibition area, a library area for families, cinemas, a cafeteria and a restaurant.
middle floor, ‘Attic’, It is made up of irregularly shaped rooms, intended for learning and creativity. They will be carried out exhibitions and workshops with the latest technology that will allow you to edit videos or even create objects with 3D printers.
On the top floor is the 'Book Heaven', a quiet area with Panoramic views from the center of the city that corresponds to the traditional space to read or study under its cloud-shaped roof.
IN HARMONY WITH THE ENVIRONMENT
In the ALA Architects project, the environmental efficiency highlighting the use of natural materials such as local wood.
In addition, it has been built taking into account the climatic conditions of the city. The facade has been built with pre-assembled elements to isolate the building; and for the cladding, first-grade Finnish spruce has been used, with a parametric 3D design.
*This article was initially published on 06.08.2018 and updated
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