SEEDS OF INTELLIGENCE 1/2
As digital technology facilitates more and more decentralized forms of network communication, the role of library to serve as a centralized public space for physical interface and social interaction becomes ever more critical. In designing Helsinki Central Library we ask ourselves three fundamental questions. What is a library? What warrants its relevance in today’s rapid access to information? What unique contextual characteristics of this site should be reflected in the new central library? These three questions led a broad range of responses and observations. We believe a contemporary library is a spatial vehicle that allows users to travel back in time to reclaim the accumulative knowledge and enables them for the future journey; It is a space that gathers people from different social and income strata; It is both casual and formal; It is a repository for all things different; It is both quiet and loud; It is both active and passive; It is both individual and collective, spatially both large and small. We believe a library is not an ivory tower of knowledge and authority, but instead a place of horizontal access; It is a place for discovery in knowledge and human socialization. We believe sustainability does not start and end with the latest technologies, but instead the most primitive principles of site orientation, day-lighting, natural ventilation and ultimately anti-passe to withstand the challenge of time. In response to our observations, we are proposing Seeds of Intelligence as our design concept. It is a place where synergy is created between knowledge and experience with spectacular spaces that promotes interaction, communication, and multitudes of social and cultural exchange. It will make Helsinki Central Library a mesmerizing place to be.
Helsinki Central Library
Open International Architectural Competition
ID K5ISL1UL
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Panel 01