14 OODI LIBRARY, HELSINKI
Now fully completed, the design of the building responds to local calls for a new public space, providing visitors, residents and commuters alike a place to meet and relax
White glass
Thanks to the envelope’s large areas of transparency, the interiors allow a significant amount of daylight. On the entranceway, this is mitigated somewhat by shading from the large balcony canopy. The building’s copious glazing is formed of multiple large insulated panels of differing sizes, with the often harsh Finnish climate necessitating high U-values. The lateral wind loads and parts of the horizontal wind loads are taken by these glass columns, and were part of the fulfilment to the building’s intended 150 year lifespan. The building has been engineered to endure the maximum potential number of snowstorms likely during that period, with the weather expected to get more extreme each year. “The glass wall detailing is “quite interesting,” explains the architect, “because the walls are not of equal height – it is out of proportion a little bit, something you might
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see in typhoon zones,” which in part explains why the panels needed to be shaped around a shifting geometry.
As the building is airtight, there was no need for point fixing of these glass panels. Instead the fixing has been integrated in the flooring’s detail, and glued in. In order to restrain the high level of solar gain on the top floor, the architects used software to generate a gradient pattern from totally transparent to an almost solid colour at different points across the facade, which was then printed onto the glass panels.
“That print has a big effect on how white the building is from the outside – not black like typical glass buildings,” says Nousjoki. He adds: “Because of this light control, the curtains are rarely used.” Above the third floor, the surrounding daylighting is also complemented bycircular skylights which ‘puncture’ through the roofs
ADF MAY 2019
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