The major question surrounding the future main library of the University of Helsinki was how to involve users in the project. This was essential, as the new main library meant the closure of many small campus libraries that had been important to the university community. Before the actual competition, small groups were formed around different functions: library staff, students, and university personnel were all invited to help plan the spatial programme for Kaisa House.

The user collaboration was successful. The strengths of the open and light-filled Kaisa Library lie in its user-friendliness and its ability to interact with diverse groups. Flexible and varied spaces highlight the diversity of academic research. Kaisa House became a construction site for knowledge and an academic living room. One trend in newer competitions is precisely this: users are actively included in the design process. Another ecological feature of Kaisa House was its use of an existing building. The structure originally known as the Pukeva department store was not entirely demolished; its lower floors were retained, and the new library rose above them.

The competition also succeeded in selecting the designer. A previously unknown new practice emerged in the Kaisa House competition and soon became one of today’s successful competition offices. Anttinen Oiva Architects, founded in the competition year 2008 and selected for participation by lottery, won with its proposal “Avaus”.

Selina Anttinen and Vesa Oiva’s design was considered both bold and firmly rooted in its location. With its brick surfaces, their proposal connects to the red-brick surroundings of Kaisaniemenkatu. The “openings” formed by glass wall zones structure the gridded brick façade. In the centre of the building, the staircase winds upward like a giant spring. Many wall surfaces are filled with small square windows. The floors rise higher and higher — and from the upper levels, the glass surfaces and windows offer views over the campus and almost into the clouds.