Helsinki

Anttinen Oiva Architects

Photo © Tuomas Uusheimo

The dramatic white interior of the University of Helsinki's new main library, by local firm Anttinen Oiva Architects, is striking for its curving travertine-marble staircase, its Finnish furnishings, and the oval-shaped voids the architects carved out of the center of the floor plates. The rotunda brings in daylight and helps visitors grasp the building's spatial organization at a glance. Opened to the public last September, the seven-floor urban-infill project was built on the site of an old department store in the capital's downtown, and consolidates libraries that had previously operated in 10 different locations.