Tampere Central Library ( Finnish: ''Tampereen kaupungin pääkirjasto'') is the main municipal library in

Tampere Tampere ( , , ; sv, Tammerfors, ) is a city A city is a human settlement of notable size.Goodall, B. (1987) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Human Geography''. London: Penguin.Kuper, A. and Kuper, J., eds (1996) ''The Social Science Encyclo ...

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bo ...

. It is also known as ''Metso'' ('

Capercaillie ''Tetrao'' is a genus of birds in the grouse subfamily known as capercaillies. They are some of the largest living grouse. Taxonomy The genus ''Tetrao'' was introduced in 1758 by the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus in the tenth edition of his ...

'), due to its resemblance to the bird, when viewed from above. The library is located along the

Hämeenpuisto Hämeenpuisto is a street and public park in Tampere, Finland that is over in length. Its length and central location has earned the park the name "Central Park of Tampere". The park was designed by Carl Ludvig Engel in 1830. Originally the nam ...

boulevard in the city centre.

Facilities

In addition to the main lending collection, the library houses a reference section and information service, children's and young adults' sections, newspaper reading room, music section as well as a small performance stage. There are also meeting, project work and exhibition spaces, public computer terminals, as well as a cafeteria, ''Cafe Metso''. The facilities are laid out over three floors. For a quarter of a century, the building was also home to the city's Moomin Museum, until its move to new premises in 2012.

Building

The library was designed by architects Reima and Raili Pietilä in the

organic architecture Organic architecture is a philosophy of architecture which promotes harmony between human habitation and the natural world. This is achieved through design approaches that aim to be sympathetic and well-integrated with a site, so buildings, furn ...

style. The design contest was held in 1978, with the Pietiläs' proposal ''Soidinmenot'' ('

Lek mating A lek is an aggregation of male animals gathered to engage in competitive displays and courtship rituals, known as lekking, to entice visiting females which are surveying prospective partners with which to mate. A lek can also indicate an avail ...

') winning by unanimous decision. Inspired by the architects' visit to Ireland during the initial ideas phase, their design language was influenced by Celtic patterns, animal shapes and

glacial A glacial period (alternatively glacial or glaciation) is an interval of time (thousands of years) within an ice age that is marked by colder temperatures and glacier advances. Interglacials, on the other hand, are periods of warmer climate betwe ...

formations. The building exterior is made of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies und ...

, wiborgite, copper and glass. Construction began in 1983, and the library opened to the public in August 1986. A comprehensive renovation was carried out in 2015-2017, at a cost of over €11 million, to refurbish the facilities and bring them better in line with modern requirements.

Gallery

References

External links

* (in Finnish) {{Authority control Libraries in Finland Buildings and structures in Tampere Modernist architecture in Finland Organic architecture Library buildings completed in 1986

Facilities

Building

Gallery

See also

References

Further reading

External links