Rooted in the country’s long tradition of wood architecture, the Helsinki Library proposal by Djuric+Tardio Architectes is a tripartite wooden organism, housing 3 different areas: the lobby and the multi-purpose program, the library, and the cinema and exhibition space. The main part of the building- the library, is conceived as a spiral, a double concentric ramp swirling around “a real tower of books”. The project reexamines the experience of reading, a return to books as sources of knowledge, combining at the same time print and electronic media and devices.

All the accesses to the library services are clearly visible at first sight, starting from the great, crossable and transparent height for the entrance, placed in the center of the building. The reception, the bar, the self-service, the access to the book shelves, to the Children’s world and to the multi-functional room, the path to the cinema and to the bookshop, restaurants and their outside terraces are organized as a unique and wide common space. In this way, the new Helsinki Central Library becomes a space for the city and its citizens that can welcome events and performances, especially in the most southern part of the building where the cinema and the permanent and temporary exhibition area will be installed.