Rovaniemi Library is the main municipal

public library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

of the city of

Rovaniemi Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

. The library building is notable for having been designed by the renowned Finnish

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs, and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Alvar Aalto Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto (; 3 February 1898 – 11 May 1976) was a Finnish architect and designer. His work includes architecture, furniture, textiles and glassware, as well as sculptures and paintings. He never regarded himself as an artist, see ...

History

The Rovaniemi public library dates back to 1860. The building where the library used to operate was, along with up to 90% of

's building stock, destroyed during the

Lapland War During World War II, the Lapland War (; ; ) saw fighting between Finland and Nazi Germany – effectively from September to November 1944 – in Finland's northernmost region, Lapland. Though the Finns and the Germans had been fighting together ...

by the retreating German forces, necessitating the rebuilding of the city centre. In January 1945, Rovaniemi commissioned a new urban design from the

Finnish Association of Architects SAFA (, , ) is the professional body representing architects in Finland. Overview The Association SAFA is a non-profit, professional organization open to all architects with a university degree from a Finnish university or equivalent qualificati ...

rebuilding unit, with the design work headed by Aalto. Aalto's eventual design, approved in 1946, is called ''Poronsarvikaava'' (literally, "Reindeer Antler Plan"), and incorporates five arterial roads forming the shape of a

reindeer The reindeer or caribou (''Rangifer tarandus'') is a species of deer with circumpolar distribution, native to Arctic, subarctic, tundra, taiga, boreal, and mountainous regions of Northern Europe, Siberia, and North America. It is the only re ...

antler. At the centre of the plan, a complex of Aalto-designed public and administrative buildings, commonly referred to as 'Aalto Centre', comprises the Lappia Hall arts and conference venue and the

Rovaniemi city hall Rovaniemi city hall is the main municipal administrative building of the city of Rovaniemi, Finland. The building was designed by the renowned Finnish architect Alvar Aalto, and although the design work started in the 1960s as part of the rebu ...

alongside the library. The complex has been designated and protected by the

Finnish Heritage Agency The Finnish Heritage Agency (, ), previously known in English as the National Board of Antiquities, preserves Finland's material cultural heritage: collects, studies and distributes knowledge of it. The agency is a cultural and research institutio ...

as a nationally important built cultural environment (''Valtakunnallisesti merkittävä rakennettu kulttuuriympäristö''). The library building was completed in 1965.

Architecture

The overall layout of the building consists of a long, rectangular office wing, and a central, fan-shaped area housing the main lending section and reading areas. The reading areas are situated in a lower-level, recessed 'reading well', a signature feature of many of Aalto's library designs. The fan-shaped section has extensive roof lights designed to allow the maximum amount of natural daylight to enter the building, especially falling on the bookshelves positioned along the interior walls. Much of the public areas is furnished with light fixtures and furniture by Aalto's own furniture and interior design company,

Artek Artek may refer to: *Arctic Technology Centre *Artek (camp), an international children center near Hurzuf, Crimea *Artek (company), a Finnish furniture manufacturer {{Disambiguation ...

. The exterior roof is clad with copper plates.

References

External links

*{{official site, url=https://international.rovaniemi.fi/en/Services/Cultural-Services/Library
Lapland Regional Library website with images and floorplansRovaniemi library on Alvar Aalto Foundation website
Libraries in Finland Alvar Aalto buildings Modernist architecture in Finland Library buildings completed in 1965 Rovaniemi Buildings and structures in Lapland (Finland) Libraries established in 1860

History

Architecture

See also

References

External links