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The renovation project of Aalto University’s Harald Herlin Learning Centre has received the HURRAA! prize awarded annually by the Building Control Committee of Espoo.

The building, designed by Alvar Aalto and introduced in 1970 as the library building of the former Helsinki University of Technology, was transformed in the renovation designed by Arkkitehdit NRT Oy. The facilities of the Aalto University’s Harald Herlin Learning Centre operate under a new service concept, serving as a shared space in which students can search for information and study.

The second floor functions as the library and reading room. Photo: Tuomas Uusheimo.

In the grounds for awarding the prize, the committee concludes that the central goals in the subtly done renovation work have been to keep the main facades and ceilings of the building, the structure, overall character and materials of its interior spaces, the main corridors and views in the lobby areas, and the lamps, furniture, interior linings and other original details of the building.  Building protection has been successfully taken into consideration in the renovation. The clearly visible ways of combining the spaces of the book storage room with Aalto University’s library rooms are a fresh combination of the present and history.

‘We are delighted about this prize. The operation and facilities of the Harald Herlin Learning Centre were designed in a new kind of collaboration process that included a multidisciplinary design team and the staff and customers of the library. The Learning Centre underwent the biggest transformation, as it reformed its services open-mindedly in connection with this project,’ says Architect Päivi Hietanen at Aalto University Properties.
 

Harald Herlin Learning Centre

Principal and construction design: Arkkitehdit NRT
Head designer: Architect Tuomo Remes
Service design: Kuudes Kerros
Interior design: JKMM
Building project owner/developer: Aalto University Properties Ltd
Contractor: NCC Building
Extent of floor space in the project 7 505 m2.

The HURRAA! prize is awarded by the Espoo Building Control Committee and Building Control Centre. It is an acknowledgement by the city to a topical, especially well and successfully implemented work in the field of built environments.
 

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