Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
economist.com
Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
1–10 of 67 posts
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#2Paywalled
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#3It was also featured in the NYT's Art & Design section: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/12/06/arts/design/helsinki-libr...
Quote from Tommi Laitio, an executive director in Helsinki city:
“We often think that things like social cohesion or democracy are just words, but in spaces like these they really come to life,” Mr. Laitio said. “You need some social infrastructure for communities to work. You can’t build them on friendship, or this abstract idea of living together.”
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#4I can't read the article, but this is a nice piece which shows the insides pretty well:
https://www.oodihelsinki.fi/en/what-is-oodi/architecture/
It is a really beautiful space, I was there with my child last weekend and shot lots of videos of the various areas. There are trees inside, play-areas for children, and many nooks for reading/resting/chatting.
This link (Finnish) has a brief video showing people cleaning the snow from the roof too, which is a semi-common occurrence in buildings/streets here in Helsinki:
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#5This is wonderful. Every library ought to be a palace.
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#6Paywalled
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#7I don’t think it’s accurate to call Oodi a library. It’s more of a communal space for citizens and a sort of a playground/hangout for kids. With some books. Maybe I’m a cranky old man but I don’t really enjoy these kind of open spaces. It’s noisy, too relaxed and not geared towards actual studying and working. Libraries in Finland no longer have any expectations for peace and quiet.
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#8I don’t think it’s accurate to call Oodi a library. It’s more of a communal space for citizens and a sort of a playground/hangout for kids. With some books. Maybe I’m a cranky old man but I don’t really enjoy these kind of open spaces. It’s noisy, too relaxed and not geared towards actual studying and working. Libraries in Finland no longer have any expectations for peace and quiet.
Libraries are less geared towards study now, and more towards offering communal space, but they're still libraries.
But it is a shame if they don't have a quieter space available too.
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#9I don’t think it’s accurate to call Oodi a library. It’s more of a communal space for citizens and a sort of a playground/hangout for kids. With some books. Maybe I’m a cranky old man but I don’t really enjoy these kind of open spaces. It’s noisy, too relaxed and not geared towards actual studying and working. Libraries in Finland no longer have any expectations for peace and quiet.
Hmm. I feel that. I’m sensing a dichotomy here between understandings of ”library as a place of study” and ”library as a communal place of sharing cultural artefacts”. Since the latter involves a lot of other things besides books and the silence required for deep study thereof, maybe a new word not derived from books (liber->library for English, kirja->kirjasto for Finnish) would indeed be appropriate?
Disclaimer: been to Oodi and think it’s great. I’m not a regular user of libraries in any sense, though. I used to be, 20 years ago, and appreciate the current trend exemplified by Oodi as something perfectly befitting Finnish societal values and ethos as I understand them. Ymmv, of course.
Re: Oodi, Helsinki’s new flagship library
#10I don’t think it’s accurate to call Oodi a library. It’s more of a communal space for citizens and a sort of a playground/hangout for kids. With some books. Maybe I’m a cranky old man but I don’t really enjoy these kind of open spaces. It’s noisy, too relaxed and not geared towards actual studying and working. Libraries in Finland no longer have any expectations for peace and quiet.
I have been in Oodi and there are a bunch of quiet places as well - perhaps not as much as classic libraries, but I had no problem finding a spot.
There are no such expectations since most of the libraries are a bit empty when there are no exams so it makes sense that some of that space is used for other means rather than allocating empty study rooms IMHO.