Helsinki Central Library Oodi opens in a year

The library is currently under construction in the Kansalaistori square. The facade will be decorated with festive lights to celebrate 100 years of Finnish independence on December 5–6, 2017.

Helsinki Central Library Oodi will open in almost exactly one year from now. The construction work at the Oodi site has already progressed so that the exceptional architecture and shape of the building is starting to become clear.

“Oodi’s exceptional architecture is rooted deep in its structure. That is why seeing the building rise has been so fascinating. That is also the reason behind very close contact and co-operation between us and the site,” says Antti Nousjoki, a partner at ALA Architects, which designed Oodi.

Helsinki Central Library is made up of a combination of a rare steel-framed bridge and building. The steel arcs arrived at the site and were installed in February and March.

“Because of the arcs in the frame, a certain clearance has been taken into account in the structure and it will remain in the complete structure. However, the yield resulting from this is so small that visitors will not notice it,” says Tero Seppänen, YIT’s Site Manager.

Oodi received its first roof elements in August and facade elements in the north end of the building in September. In October, the installation of the third-floor external glass walls began on site. Currently, the glass structures on the east side are being installed.

“The structural details of the glass facade are especially ambitious. The prints in the glass have been realised with a state-of-the-art printing technique. An algorithm has been used to define the places of the dots in the pattern so that there is no repetition in the pattern. The result will be hazy, as if a cloud had landed by the windows,” says Nousjoki.

Next year, the focus in Oodi will switch strongly to the interior building phase. However, Nousjoki tells us he is especially waiting for the installation of the building’s timber cladding.

“Wood will soften the building and, in fact, the atmosphere and architecture in the entire Töölönlahti area. So far, the scale of Oodi and how elegantly it fits in in its environment have only been pleasant surprises,” says Nousjoki.

“Currently, we are preparing for the opening of Oodi by accumulating the collection of 100,000 books, planning new services together with several partners and by planning the guide signs. Also the personnel selections will start soon,” says Oodi’s Director Anna-Maria Soininvaara.

Oodi is being planned in close co-operation with the library’s future customers and personnel. Most recently, the people of Helsinki gave their opinions on the seats for the future library.

Helsinki Central Library is one of the projects launched to mark the centenary of Finland’s independence. It has a gross floor area of around 17,000 square metres. Arkkitehtitoimisto ALA Oy is the chief architect for the project. The library will be opened in December 2018. Its construction costs total EUR 98 million.

The City of Helsinki has decorated the Oodi site with blue and white colours on December 5 and 6 to celebrate the centenary of Finnish independence. The topping out ceremony of Helsinki Central Library will be celebrated on May, 2018.

Watch a video on the construction of Oodi: http://bit.ly/2z9U6GW
Read more at: www.keskustakirjasto.fi/en

For further information, please contact:

Anna-Maria Soininvaara, Director, Helsinki Central Library Oodi, tel. +358 (0)50 434 5979, anna-maria.soininvaara@hel.fi

Hanna Malmivaara, Vice President, Communications, YIT Corporation, tel. +358 (0)40 561 6568, hanna.malmivaara@yit.fi

YIT creates a better living environment by developing and constructing housing, business premises, infrastructure and entire areas. Our vision is to bring more life into sustainable cities. We want to focus on caring for customers, visionary urban development, passionate execution and inspiring leadership. Our growth engine is urban development involving partners. Our operating area covers Finland, Russia, the Baltic countries, the Czech Republic, Slovakia and Poland. In 2016, our revenue amounted to nearly EUR 1.8 billion, and we employ about 5,300 employees. Our share is listed on Nasdaq Helsinki. www.yitgroup.com