A land of 100,000 lakes? More aptly and accurately, Finland is a nation of 100 percent literacy, a land of libraries. The country celebrated its 101st year of independence on December 6 by dedicating “Oodi (Ode),” the long-awaited new Helsinki Central Library, designed by the locally based ALA Architects, following their selection through a 2014 international competition that attracted 544 entries.
Situated in the cultural heart of the nation’s capital, Oodi’s spruce-clad, glass-topped volume bounds the eastern edge of “Kansalaistori (Citizen’s Square),” completing a civic space of cultural expression that is defined by the adjacent contemporary buildings for art, performance and information: Kiasma, the Museum of Contemporary Art by Steven Holl, (1991); Sanoma-talo, the Helsinki news corporation’s headquarters by SARC (1993); and the Helsinki Music Center by LPR Architects, (2011). The symbolic character of the square is further amplified by the nearby Helsinki Railway Station by Eliel Saarien (1915), J.S. Siren’s House of Parliament (1929), and Alvar Aalto’s Finlandia Hall (1974).
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