Fyyri’s exterior copper shingles reference Kirkkonummi’s maritime heritage. Courtesy Tuomas Uusheimo
In November, Kirkonummi, Finland was graced with an inspiring new cathedral. Not far outside Helsinki, it connects visitors to nature and to each other instead of spirit, to facts instead of faith. But there’s plenty of fiction here, too: Fyyri is a cathedral of books, a library retrofitted by Helsinki-based studio JKMM in a comprehensive adaptive reuse project. Built using the roughly triangular footprint and concrete structure of the original 1980s-era library, it was designed as a learning environment and multifunctional space for a variety of users.
The studio’s first project in 2007 was a competition-winning building in Turku, which pioneered the idea of the library as community and cultural hub, followed by two extensions of landmark Alvar Aalto–designed libraries. Today, its re-do of Fyyri doubles the volume of the original building while accommodating living room-like spaces for toddlers, youth clubs, exhibitions, events and performances, as well as a café with a 2,131-square-foot reading lounge.
With a nearby open-air market and medieval stone church, the 50,590-square-foot library forms part of the city’s civic heart. But the ambitious variegation of the library’s functions make it a truly vibrant community hub. Nordic countries made the shift to mixed-use libraries early, when they began to consider the public facilities not just as buildings but as services.
Instead of melancholic mystery, Fyyri has a numinous clarity. Low-slung and crowned with copper shingles that resemble a giant fishing net from street level, it features perforations on the west side louvres that suggest an archipelago. Both are a nod to Kirkkonummi’s long Baltic coastline and the municipality’s maritime heritage. Inside, JKMM also evoked the shoreline with a subdued color palette and the use of natural materials like wool and felt upholstery.
The library’s reading areas feature cozy upholstered furniture and double-height, white surfaces that allow abundant natural light to fill the space. Courtesy Tuomas Uusheimo
The main reading hall features a rhythmic series of column-like, fair-faced concrete posts and beams, framing transparent floor-to-ceiling stripes through which copious, indirect daylight filters, suggesting a forest of birch trees. The reading areas mix double height, white surfaces, crafted blond wood slats, and softly upholstered furniture and rugs.
On one side of the building, a 164-foot-long glazed terrace looks onto the old stone church. “Mothers leave their babies sleeping in prams there while watching over them from inside the library café, sitting at a table over a cup of coffee and facing the long stretch of glass wall that brings the outdoors inside the building,” founding partner Teemu Kurkela says. “I think it is this liminality that has made the building so well-received.”
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Nordic countries made the shift to mixed-use library buildings early. "Th[ere was] a turning point in Finland [when] public facilities were no longer seen as institutions but as services," says JKMM founding partner Teemu Kurkela. "The staff who work in libraries have responded to this shift and today the job description of a 'librarian' has a much more generous interpretation.” © Tuomas Uusheimo
Nordic countries made the shift to mixed-use library buildings early. "Th[ere was] a turning point in Finland [when] public facilities were no longer seen as institutions but as services," says JKMM founding partner Teemu Kurkela. "The staff who work in libraries have responded to this shift and today the job description of a 'librarian' has a much more generous interpretation.” © Tuomas Uusheimo
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Bespoke lighting with brass fittings generate warmth while brass detailing in the entrances and on handrails that contrast warmly with the concrete architecture, helping to guide circulation and offering antibacterial properties. © Pauliina Salonen
Bespoke lighting with brass fittings generate warmth while brass detailing in the entrances and on handrails that contrast warmly with the concrete architecture, helping to guide circulation and offering antibacterial properties. © Pauliina Salonen
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Finnish artist Petri Vainio collaborated with the team to create an in-situ artwork that hangs from the ceiling of the main lobby like a field of reeds. © Tuomas Uusheimo
Finnish artist Petri Vainio collaborated with the team to create an in-situ artwork that hangs from the ceiling of the main lobby like a field of reeds. © Tuomas Uusheimo
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The cafe is where the library's social functions overlap with the quieter program of reading and study. © Pauliina Salonen
The cafe is where the library's social functions overlap with the quieter program of reading and study. © Pauliina Salonen
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The slatted timber walls and ceilings of the reading rooms are meant to confuse the authorship of architect and interior designer, along with fitted furnishings that take on the architectonic qualities of the larger structure. © Tuomas Uusheimo
The slatted timber walls and ceilings of the reading rooms are meant to confuse the authorship of architect and interior designer, along with fitted furnishings that take on the architectonic qualities of the larger structure. © Tuomas Uusheimo
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Nordic countries made the shift to multipurpose library buildings early. “The cities started to think why do we need a separate building for each one of these public services? Why not have just one building typology, a new generation [of] library, that can serve as a hub for a range of complementary activities?" says JKMM founding partner Teemu Kurkela. © Pauliina Salonen
Nordic countries made the shift to multipurpose library buildings early. “The cities started to think why do we need a separate building for each one of these public services? Why not have just one building typology, a new generation [of] library, that can serve as a hub for a range of complementary activities?" says JKMM founding partner Teemu Kurkela. © Pauliina Salonen
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“At JKMM, we have come to understand that in essence libraries are part of the education system in a society and when technology changes," says Kurkela, "the educational system follows and as architects we give this change a physical form that supports it and celebrates it. In the next 10 or 25 years, libraries may well become more prevalent as these types of multifunctional community hubs and they may well start to emerge at different scales too - going from XS to XL.” © Pauliina Salonen
“At JKMM, we have come to understand that in essence libraries are part of the education system in a society and when technology changes," says Kurkela, "the educational system follows and as architects we give this change a physical form that supports it and celebrates it. In the next 10 or 25 years, libraries may well become more prevalent as these types of multifunctional community hubs and they may well start to emerge at different scales too - going from XS to XL.” © Pauliina Salonen
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