The proposal for the Helsinki Central Library by OODA tries to merge the most efficient program articulation with a strong concept which intends to suggest the overall theme integrated with Helsinki’s context. Their building acts as a shifting point between the two demarked city urban networks – ancient and modern – merging both, creating a public path that connects to the park while it simultaneously generates the formal composition. The new central library will be much more than a traditional library. It will be a dynamic entity, fully equipped, comprised of the physical spaces themselves as well as technology, library collections, staff, tourists in an all-age designed forefront building. More images and architects’ description after the break.
This competition intent was to establish a proposal for a Central Library to Helsinki that aims to incorporate a combination of personal cultivation, culture enhancement and entertainment. The library has been transformed from a space to read into a social center with multiple responsibilities. Consequently it needs to be thought as a functionally versatile meeting place, a store of education in which the users are the focus and the building itself the symbol of attraction and connectivity. Therefore, we believe that in the process of generating architecture we cannot succeed without imagination because that is the most efficient tool or possibility to generate scenarios, predict spaces and reinvent ambiances.
