{"id":24191,"date":"2019-12-09T20:12:18","date_gmt":"2019-12-09T07:12:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yaketyyak.nzstaging.com\/2019\/12\/how-helsinki-built-book-heaven\/"},"modified":"2022-12-12T22:01:33","modified_gmt":"2022-12-12T09:01:33","slug":"how-helsinki-built-book-heaven","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yaketyyakfurniture.com\/en_nz\/2019\/12\/how-helsinki-built-book-heaven\/","title":{"rendered":"How Helsinki Built \u2018Book Heaven\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Finland\u2019s most ambitious library has a lofty mission, says Helsinki\u2019s Tommi Laitio: It\u2019s a kind of monument to the Nordic model of civic engagement.<\/p>\n

You might say, \u201cYes, of course I love the library.\u201d We do, too. But I\u2019m not sure anyone loves libraries quite like the Finns do.<\/p>\n

In a country that boasts one of the world\u2019s highest literacy rates, the arrival of the new central library in Helsinki last year was a kind of moon-landing-like moment of national bonding. The \u20ac98 million facility, whose opening in December 2018 marked the centenary of Finnish independence, has since been widely celebrated internationally as a model reimagining of these critical pieces of social infrastructure. At the CityLab DC conference this week, Tommi Laitio, Helsinki\u2019s executive director for culture and leisure, offered his own, more personal take on exactly why this building is so important to Finland\u2019s future.<\/p>\n

Designed by Finnish architecture firm ALA and dubbed Oodi (\u201code\u201d in Finnish), the three-level structure is a kind of spruce-clad monument to the principles of Nordic society-building. Still, Laitio opened his talk not with shots of the building\u2019s sleek interiors but with a sobering image from Finland\u2019s brutal civil war of 1918, which killed 36,000 people, many of whom perished in prison camps.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can be your best person inside this building.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThis progress from one of the poorest countries of Europe to one of the most prosperous has not been an accident. It\u2019s based on this idea that when there are so few of us\u2014only 5.5 million people\u2014everyone has to live up to their full potential,\u201d he said. \u201cOur society is fundamentally dependent on people being able to trust the kindness of strangers.\u201d<\/p>\n

That conviction has helped support modern Finland\u2019s emphasis on education and literacy\u2014each Finn takes out more than 15 books a year from the library (10 more than the average American). But Nordic-style social services have not shielded the residents of Finland\u2019s largest city from 21st-century anxieties about climate change, migrants, disruptive technology, and the other forces fueling right-leaning populist movements across Europe. Oodi, which was the product of a 10-year-long public consultation and design process, was conceived in part to resist these fears. \u201cWhen people are afraid, they focus on short-term selfish solutions,\u201d Laitio said. \u201cThey also start looking for scapegoats.\u201d<\/p>\n

The central library is built to serve as a kind of citizenship factory, a space for old and new residents to learn about the world, the city, and each other. It\u2019s pointedly sited across from (and at the same level as) the Finnish Parliament House that it shares a public square with.<\/p>\n

Its design reflects that lofty mission. The ground floor is an extension of the public square outside\u2014a space for meetings, free events, and informal gatherings, with a cafe, theater, and various public amenities. On the second level, a series of flexible rooms provide a host of au courant attractions and borrowables\u20143-D printers and power tools, sewing machines and music rooms and makerspaces. Language classes are offered for migrants; gamers get VR-equipped computer rooms. Patrons can even borrow season tickets for the Helsinki\u2019s popular professional basketball games. Only on the topmost level\u2014in a soaring, light-filled space Laitio calls \u201cbook heaven\u201d\u2014will one find actual volumes for readers, a 100,000-book collection that\u2019s in very high demand.<\/p>\n

Inside and out, the facility is as handsome as Finnish Modernism fans might expect, and it has proved to be absurdly popular: About 10,000 patrons stop by every day, on average (it\u2019s open until 10 p.m.), and Oodi just hit 3 million visitors this year\u2014\u201ca lot for a city of 650,000,\u201d Laitio said. In its very first month, 420,000 Helsinki residents\u2014almost two-thirds of the population\u2014went to the library. Some may only have been skateboarders coming in to use the bathroom, but that\u2019s fine: The library has a \u201ccommitment to openness and welcoming without judgement,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s probably the most diverse place in our city, in many ways.\u201d<\/p>\n

The crush of Finnish biblio-enthusiasm also runs counter to trends in nations like the U.S. and U.K., where budget cuts and defunding threats have strained library systems. In too many places, libraries are \u201cplaces that many people value in principle but few use in practice,\u201d Laitio said. \u201cWe\u2019re losing out on their democratic potential. … Libraries have this incredible promise\u2014that you can build your future in here. You can be your best person inside this building.\u201d<\/p>\n

Instinct Furniture BLOG, mostly about cool libraries, furniture and design \u2013 keeping you abreast of our world. (Source: CITYLAB, written by David Dudley<\/a>. Photos courtesy City of Helsinki).<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>