Helsinki will have a new library, which will include a sauna

Central Library in Helsinki, ALA Architects (1st place in the competition, 2013)

Helsinki - No Finnish building is complete without a sauna, so the sauna will be an integral part of the new central library in Helsinki. For a while, it seemed that readers would not be able to warm their bones, as the head of the city’s libraries opposed such an idea, but ultimately, the city council intervened, insisting that the sauna be included in the project to appease the residents of the Finnish capital, reported Finnish television YLE.
The sauna was part of the plans for the new library, which has a budget of 96 million euros (over 2.6 billion crowns), from the very beginning, but a week ago the head of Helsinki's libraries suggested removing it from the project. However, the city council quickly intervened and declared the sauna an integral part of the library's vision.
"We see it as an educational sauna, a way to support Finnish culture. The idea is to connect literature with the sauna," stated Johanna Sydänmaa from the city's cultural committee.
The new central library will be located in the Töölö district of Helsinki, which is considered the cultural center of the metropolis, housing, among other things, the opera and the national museum. The library will welcome its first readers and sauna enthusiasts in 2017, coinciding with the centenary of Finnish independence.