With the new Central Library for Helsinki, we envision an institution at the heart of the city that is a dynamic space for interaction between new media and old, between the young and the elderly, and between the historic city and the future of culture, education, social spaces, and ecologically intelligtent buildings in Finland.

We believe that the design for the new Central Library for Helsinki must begin from the potential of the library program and the ambitions of the city to create a people-centered institution. We choose to adopt a simple box-like form that does not compete with the surrounding cultural institutions through formal importance. Instead, the focuses on programmatic potentials by creating a dynamic series of spaces that are focused on the needs, desires, and ambitions of the staff and public that will use this occupy and use this space. The spaces inside contains a certain freedom, however: this is a space that permits a composite mix of various media that will continue to change and evolve against the backdrop of an information-centered age. 

Competition
(Honorable Mention)

Civil

Matthew Jull, Leena Cho