Helsinki Library Building, Finnish Design Contest, Architectural Images
Helsinki Library Competition : Finnish Architecture Contest
Finnish Library Building – design by Djuric+Tardio Architectes, Paris
26 Nov 2012
Helsinki Central Library
Töölönlahti, Helsinki, Finland
Entry to Finnish Architecture Competition
Design: Djuric+Tardio Architectes, Paris
THE STORYTELLING TREE
A modern library, as a elementary and great emblem of the Finnish essence, culture and know-how, and result of the most accomplished wooden construction technology. These are the aims that give birth to an unordinary building, voluntarily unaccustomed to the Finnish landscape, in order to lead the user to a trip somewhere else, in the reading time of an exotic novel.
images from architect
A return to books and to knowledge source, to ensure its continuous existence and its memory, thanks to this contemporary library, also equipped with all the new electronic media and devices.
The book, a never ending memory, can tell us stories and tales from here and elsewhere, like a hundred-year-old tree. This is our starting point. As the roots of the tree are anchored firmly to the ground, the culture is firmly anchored to books, made with paper obtained from the tree itself.
In their journey of cultural discovery, Djuric+Tardio Architectes deeply rush into these roots and gradually go up through the knowledge they contain and protect, until the luxuriant evergreen crown. Finally one can have a stop there, in order to meditate, discover and read the books one would have encountered and brought.
A wood curved by man hands and harvested in these regularly replanted forests. A main and leading concern: the use of resources and local know-how for a fabric coming from sustainable development principles, before being ecological.
images from architect
The organization of this wooden organism is simple but dynamic, it consists of 3 different areas: the lobby and the multi-purpose program, the library, and the cinema and exhibition space. A straight urban façade on the street side balances a more opened and articulated façade on the park side, protected by giant vertical and adjustable pergolas on the south.
The heart of the project, the library, is conceived as a spiral, a double concentric ramp around a real tower of books, also called «Tower of Knowledge » where original books will be available for traditional reading, in addition to the on-line digital version.
All the accesses to the library services are clearly visible at first sight, starting from the great, crossable and transparent height for the entrance, placed in the centre of the building. The reception, the bar, the self-service, the access to the book shelves, to the Children’s world and to the multi-functional room, the path to the cinema and to the bookshop, restaurants and their outside terraces are organized as a unique and wide common space.
In this way, the new Helsinki Central Library becomes a space for the city and its citizens, that can welcome events and performances, especially in the most southern part of the building where the cinema and the permanent and temporary exhibition area will be installed.
images from architect
Helsinki Central Library Competition – Building Information
HELSINKI CENTRAL LIBRARY
Project Title: The Storytelling Tree
Client: City of Helsinki
Architect: Djuric Tardio Architectes
Gross Floor area: 15,000 sqm
Location: Helsinki
Status: Competition
Helsinki Central Library Contest information received from Djuric+Tardio Architectes
Location: Töölönlahti, Helsinki, Finland, northeast Europe
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Website: Helsinki Finland
