Kirkkonummi Library

How to design a new heart for a small city

© Tapio Snellman
Location: Kirkkonummi, Finland
Function: Cafe, Childrens play area, Community center, Library, Multifunctional spaces, Offices, Workshops
Size: 4 700 m2
Status: Completed - 2020
Client: Municipality of Kirkkonummi
Scope: Architecture, Art integration, Interior, Restoration, Signage system

Kirkkonummi is a small town near Helsinki built around its Medieval stone church.  Facing the church, JKMM has transformed the old city library to create a new civic center. Although an adaptive reuse project, the library has doubled in its size and appears wholly new built.

Kirkkonummi Library represents a new generation of Finnish libraries.  Libraries are no longer solely about books, but about sharing knowledge and experiences through multiple channels. This phenomenon has changed the library typology: making them into places for learning and meetings not unlike a community hall. Finns today see libraries as living rooms outside their homes. 

At Kirkkonummi, the copper shingle clad library has a concrete structure which wraps around the main reading hall’s interior. The rhytmic post and beam membranes are left exposed and filter natural light into the space. Another, more informal reading room looks up towards the church tower and gives onto 50 meter long sheltered terrace.

Read more about the interior design here.

© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Pauliina Salonen
© Pauliina Salonen
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Mark Goodwin
© Tuomas Uusheimo
© Mark Goodwin
© JKMM
© JKMM
© JKMM
© JKMM