The Helsinki Central Library, designed by FIRM a.d. and OKB Architecture, is a hub of knowledge, where different people, communities and constituencies can come together. With their concept of ‘Geologies of Information’, their design expresses how if libraries were like sedimentary rocks, where layers of knowledge accumulated over time, libraries of the 21st century are like igneous rock in which different mediums of knowledge and learning are fused into a granular heterogeneous whole. More images and architects’ description after the break.
The library is no longer simply a repository for books and a place for reading, it has become a place for knowledge exchange, for communities to gather and for ideas and experiences to be shared. This fact is evident in the competition program. Of the 10,000 net sqm, only 25% is dedicated to book storage and reading. Helsinki’s Central Library has expanded to include places for performances, meeting, production and learning.
