Summary

The web content provides an overview and personal reflection on the Rovaniemi Library designed by Alvar Aalto in 1966, highlighting its unique architectural features and the experience of visiting the space.

Abstract

The article discusses a visit to the Rovaniemi Library in Finland, designed by renowned architect Alvar Aalto. Despite the chilly May weather, the author describes the library as a beacon of light and warmth, with its 'moonbase' style exterior and thoughtfully designed interior spaces that foster concentration and comfort. The library's design is part of Aalto's reindeer antler-inspired masterplan for the city, which was largely destroyed during World War II. The author notes the library's low-slung, multi-faceted structure with clear modules, pragmatic colonnades, and glowing extruded window-boxes, which together create an impression of simplicity and functionality. Inside, the library features sunken reading rooms, bespoke fixtures, and an array of Aalto's signature lamps, all contributing to an atmosphere of easy concentration and warmth, enhanced by the use of brass, wood, and white walls. The article is accompanied by a comprehensive set of photographs that capture the essence of Aalto's design, from the building's exterior to its interior details, including door handles and typography.

Opinions

The author appreciates the library's exterior design, describing it as a 'moonbase' style that is both simple and multi-faceted.
The interior of the library is praised for its refined thresholds, flows, and spaces that encourage reading and contemplation.
Aalto's use of natural light, combined with his bespoke lamps, is seen as a thoughtful response to the extreme light and dark cycles of the region.
The warmth of the library's interior, achieved through materials like brass and wood, is highlighted as a counterpoint to the deceptively simple exterior.
The author holds Aalto's door handles and typography in high regard, considering them integral to the building's overall design.
The article suggests that the library is a successful realization of Aalto's masterplan for Rovaniemi, reflecting the city's reindeer antler-inspired urban design.
The author encourages readers to view the full set of photos on Flickr and to recommend the article, indicating a strong endorsement of the library's architectural significance.

Rovaniemi Library, Alvar Aalto (1966)

Whirlwind tour of a far-north moonbase classic, May 2011

Rovaniemi is just outside the Arctic Circle and even in the May of that year, was appropriately chilly. The far-northern lakes we flew over, during the short flight from Helsinki, appeared glassy, semi-frozen, crisp reflective screens mirroring the surrounding forests.

Boyer and I were there for a social innovation conference at Santa Park—yes, really—but beforehand we managed a quick hit-and-run on some of the civic complex designed by Alvar Aalto, which represents part of the reindeer antler-inspired masterplan he produced for the city after 90% of it was destroyed towards the end of World War II.

The town hall and library are perhaps the most refined of the several buildings he designed for the city. The former can be seen in some of the shots below, towards the end, but we were really there to see the wonderful library.

From the outside, the library is a low-slung building, lean and long and multi-faceted, comprised of clear modules connected together at shallow angles and trimmed by pragmatic colonnades, each block topped with glowing extruded window-boxes, exemplifying what I’d call the ‘moonbase’ style.

Inside is typically refined, well thought-through thresholds and flows leading to sunken reading rooms, small pools of easy concentration. These are wrapped in tall shelves of books, topped with white walls and clerestory windows which draw in as much light as possible from outside—this is a land of intense light and dark, after all—while Aalto’s peerless array of lamps provide warmer glows at floor level. Bespoke fixtures are everywhere, internal spaces adorned by vertical slats in brass and wood, some of which are echoed on the exterior. The warmth of these materials inside, as well as the forms of ornamentation an organic modernist would allow, beautifully counterpoint the deceptively simple exterior. That exterior also features signature door-handles (“the handshake of a building”) and lovely type, though this is superseded by the epic shield and type on the Town Hall (Kaupungintalo, below).

Full set of Rovaniemi photos at Flickr. If you valued this piece, please recommend it — in other words, press ❤ below, so that others may find it too.