544 projects were submitted for the competition, and all of them were shown to the general public: on the Internet and at an exhibition in a former warehouse in Yatkäsaari, one of the historical zones of the harbor of Helsinki. Visitors could leave comments on the work and vote for their favorite option. At the same time, the jury selected 6 projects for development in the second round.
The awards ceremony at the Helsinki Music House on June 14 was attended by many key figures; there was also an exhibition of the finalists' works. All prizes - the first (50,000 euros) and the third split in half (31,500 euros each) - went to Finnish architects: it can be safely noted that this generation of young masters, who received the awards, is really capable of much.
Generally speaking, most of the participants did not seem to be interested in the specifics of the site intended for the library. Their buildings seemed to have fallen from the sky into the city, while many of the contestants tried to imitate the style of the architectural "stars". In itself, this is not bad, but Helsinki has its own special image, even if somewhat spoiled by bad urban planning decisions, and it must be taken into account. In addition, the site of the library requires a special approach (Parliament, Alvar Aalto's Finlandia Concert Hall, Stephen Hall Museum of Contemporary Art are located nearby).
Therefore, the winning project, Käännös (from Finnish - "translation" or "turnover") contains only a few "iconic" elements, and the rest takes into account the context. This project stood out among hundreds of other anonymous works already at the 1st stage of the competition. Since I was at the Kilden Performing Arts Center in Kristiansand, Norway, I recognized the "handwriting" of its authors, ALA. The history of this workshop began with the competition for the Kilden project in 2004, and the current victory in Helsinki is its second big success.
Also, from the very beginning, the Kasi project by Verstas Architects attracted attention; after revision in the 2nd round, it became even more interesting. He shared the third prize with Liblab by Playa Architects. The Honorable Mention was given to a project by Henning Larsen's bureau, which turned out to be the only star among the finalists.
Minister of Culture and Sports Paavo Arhinmäki answered the most important question about financing the construction of the library: opening the award ceremony, he called the library a "national project", the implementation of which will be timed to coincide with the celebration of the 100th anniversary of Finland's independence in 2017.
The project of the new Central Library has been promoted for 20 years by the director of the Helsinki Libraries Association, Maija Berndtson, who has now left her post.
Finland now has several new high-quality libraries built by competent architects: in Turku and
Seinäjoki by JKMM as well as Kaisa, designed by Anttinen Oiva Architects for the capital's university. In a few years, they will be joined by an ultra-modern "newcomer" created by already established architects: two theaters are currently being built in Finland based on ALA projects.
I can only congratulate the winners, and also note the wisdom of the jury, who did not succumb to the charm of the "iconic" projects.
The planned area of the Helsinki Central Library is 10,000 m2, the budget is 69.9 million euros, and the energy consumption is 180 kWh / m2. The service life of the building is 150 years.
