After the completion of Kaisa House in 2012, Helsinki University Library has revamped its facilities on each campus between 2014 and 2022, investing particularly in the number and versatility of study spaces. All facility changes have been carried out on the basis of concrete needs: some facilities, such as Learning Centre Aleksandria, have reached the end of their lifespan in terms of technical and functional solutions.
At the same time, the University community has identified changes in studying and teaching. An increase in digital material, the increasingly common use of personal devices among students and the proliferation of hybrid teaching models have eroded the traditional notion of the library being primarily a storage site for collections, which possibly also offers computers to support information retrieval and writing.
The coronavirus pandemic served as a catalyst for this trend. According to Director of Services Kirsi Mäenpää, who is responsible for learning services at Helsinki University Library, the exceptional circumstances brought to light the new multi-location nature of studying and teaching at the University, and the great demand for facilities where people can study individually, in groups and in hybrid modes safely and appropriately.
After the pandemic, the Library emphasised a zone-based approach in planning its facilities: groupwork spaces, open groupwork areas as well as bookable and non-bookable spaces have been built alongside quiet workspaces for independent work, making social collaboration possible and even desirable.
Also new is the café-like atmosphere deliberately established for the library facilities: the Library offers spaces that people can visit without fear of disturbing others or being in the wrong place. Acoustics, ergonomics, clear purposes for specific facilities and other design solutions aim to support various study methods and reduce conflicting needs. Facility design supports students’ experience of facilities being genuinely for them.
A key change compared to previous facility remodelling projects is the establishment of co-creation practices. Previous projects have involved brainstorming and discussions between the Library and its customers in the early stages of planning, after which the actual remodelling commenced. Now, students and other facility user groups have been systematically consulted throughout the process – through pop-up polls, pilots and feedback channels – and feedback will be systematically processed also after the facilities have been opened. This has boosted users’ experience of being included in the planning and the University community, as well as of their feedback resulting in actual change.
Students have indeed claimed Aleksandria as their own. Opening in the beginning of July 2025 after renovation and remodelling, Learning Centre Aleksandria filled up even before the beginning of the term, with key figures indicating great popularity: Since the opening in July the learning centre has attracted more than 120 000 visitors in the latter half of the 2025.
Located next to Kaisa House on Fabianinkatu, Learning Centre Aleksandria offers study facilities on five floors. The living room space on the ground floor and the groupwork space on the second floor also enable spontaneous co-working and flexible attendance in online lectures. The building houses more than 300 new workspaces, including a slew of electrically adjustable desks and laptop docking stations. The learning centre also includes new facilities designed to meet students’ expectations through co-creation, such as a family room, a sensory-friendly space and a resting room for taking breaks from studying.
Kirsi Mäenpää is pleased with Helsinki University Library’s exceptional role in the development of learning facilities: unlike in many other higher education institutions, where faculties, facility service providers and other parties maintain such facilities, at the University of Helsinki the Library is seen as an operator with both expertise and the will to develop the learning environments needed by students. This is based on the library specialists’ long-term experience of students’ everyday life, service design and listening to customer needs. The Library has deepened collaboration within the University in providing learning environment services with the IT Centre, the Facilities and Properties Sector, University of Helsinki Property Services Ltd and University Services. The outcome for students and other facility users has been highly successful. The Library has also been prepared to bear financial responsibility for the learning facilities, even though this entails a considerable additional burden on its budget.
The development of learning facilities links to broader themes at the University of Helsinki, including responsibility, sustainability and equality. Versatile learning facilities are seen as an element of the University’s responsibility for student wellbeing, smooth studying and safe learning environments. Responsibility also manifests in many technical choices: rapidly ageing fixed solutions are avoided, users’ own devices are used, and facilities are built flexibly for future needs that will certainly be different from current ones.
The Library is no longer just a quiet reading room, but a diverse environment for learning, interaction and experimentation. It provides an infrastructure where students, researchers and other members of the University community – including non-degree students – can work, learn and develop new ways of sharing their skills. This role as a developer of learning facilities has become one of the Library’s core duties.
Text: Veera Ristikartano