The archive · Public & Social · Strategic decision · 2013–2019
Helsinki's Oodi: the 'living room' library that drew 3M visits in year one (2018)
Helsinki built its central library as an open 'living room' — books in only a third of the space — and Oodi drew 3 million visits in its first year.
City of Helsinki
What it had to solve
Helsinki had planned a central library for a site facing Parliament, and worried that a traditional book warehouse would empty as reading moved online — the risk was that the library itself would lose its purpose. The city ran an international competition, which ALA Architects won in 2013, and committed €98 million to answering what a public library is for.
How it works
Helsinki had spent years planning a new central library on a symbolic site facing Parliament, but the deeper question was what a public library is for when reading has moved online. The city answered with an international competition, won by Finnish firm ALA Architects in 2013, and a €98 million building that opened on 5 December 2018: Oodi.
The creative decision was to design the library as the city's living room rather than a book warehouse. The ground floor is a column-free, deliberately non-commercial continuation of the Kansalaistori square, open to everyone, with a café, cinema and city information desks; the middle 'attic' holds flexible rooms, a makerspace and recording studios; and the top floor, nicknamed 'Book Heaven', carries the collection. Books fill only about a third of the building.
Architecturally, the concept was executed as an inhabited bridge: the upper volume spans more than 100 metres over the open public ground floor, supported by two steel arches, with a timber facade of Finnish spruce and a public terrace looking over the square. The collection holds about 100,000 books, magazines, films and games in 17 languages, and the building stays open seven days a week from early morning until late evening.
The bet paid off in numbers rarely seen for a library. Oodi welcomed 2,136,910 visitors in less than its first year, reached roughly three million visits against an original goal of 2.5 million a year, issued 18,400 new library cards, and was named the IFLA Public Library of the Year for 2019. Visits to Helsinki's other 36 library branches rose 1 percent instead of the predicted 5 percent drop.
Why it lands
- The program was designed backwards from civic life: the ground floor continues the public square indoors, non-commercial and open to all, making the library part of the city's daily fabric.
- Cutting on-site storage to a third of the building freed floor area and budget for studios, makerspaces, a cinema and meeting rooms — amenities that made the building a destination beyond borrowing.
- Three distinct levels give noisy creation, quiet reading and public gathering separate homes, so different activities reinforce rather than crowd each other.
- Long daily hours and free access turned the building into a dependable 'living room', which is why visits rather than loans became the measure of success.
- The city published the results — visit counts, new cards, and the effect on other branches — turning an architectural gamble into evidence that public libraries still matter.
What it did
Oodi logged 2,136,910 visits in under a year, beat its 2.5 million-a-year goal with about three million in year one, issued 18,400 new library cards and won IFLA's 2019 Public Library of the Year — while visits to Helsinki's other libraries rose 1 percent instead of an expected 5 percent drop.
What you can take
When an institution's purpose fades, redesign the institution, not just its building: make gathering and creation the core service, and the collection becomes one amenity among many.
Since then
By its first anniversary Oodi had drawn about three million visits against a goal of 2.5 million a year, issued 18,400 new library cards, and won the IFLA Public Library of the Year award, plus a place on TIME's World's Greatest Places list. Its popularity lifted visits to Helsinki's other 36 library branches by 1 percent instead of the predicted 5 percent drop. Oodi became a Helsinki landmark and a frequently cited model for what a public library can be in a digital age.
Sources
- Helsinki's Oodi voted world's best new library for 2019
- Finland's flagship library Oodi opens to the public in Helsinki
- Helsinki Central Library Oodi's first year has been a success
- Oodi Helsinki Central Library: Public Space in a Significant Site
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