Sustainable Design: Pinewood Library by Sputnik And ABT, Helsinki, Finland

Picture of large open interiors inside of the library made of wood

Sustainable Design: Pinewood Library by Sputnik And ABT, Helsinki, Finland
© Sputnik / Nice Agency

Today we found one quite interesting project in our mailbox. It's one of the rejected entries in the international architectural competition for new public library in Helsinki, Finland. Project is called Pinewood Library, designed by Hank Bultstra from Studio Sputnik. Hank imagined whole building being made of Finnish pinewood, representing high sustainable design.

"The competition entry places a contemporary, down-to-earth public building at the heart of the metropolis, with a strong reference to the Finnish building tradition. The design shows a building entirely made of Finnish pinewood. Not only the structural parts as columns and beams are made of pine, but also the hollow core floorslabs, facade elements and interior walls. Wood is by far the most sustainable construction material. It's relatively light weight and has no carbon emission at the production stage. Besides that, Finnish pinewood is produced around the corner, so no carbon emssions because of long distance transportation either. The pinewood elements can be disassembled. The building's lifecycle follows the cradle-to-cradle principle.

The building has a couple of generic floors and two spectacular atriums, that connect the floors spatially. The heating and air circulation is managed by VRF units at each separate 6 meter grid section. The air ducts are incorporated in the wooden hollow core floor slabs. This gives the building a maximum flexibility for placement of interior walls, without a suspended ceiling. The building is easily adaptable to future needs and change of use. The roof is green. Plants accumulate the rainwater and gradually release it. The facade elements have large windows with shutters. The daylight enters deep into the interior, during the cold nights the shutters can be closed to keep the accumulated heat during the day, inside.

540 projects entered the competition, the Pinewood Library was not amongst the selected 6 projects for the second stage."
-Hank Bultstra