It's not easy to build a national library. Helsinki succeeded in 2018 after 20 years of planning, designing and building. It's called Oodi, and the architects behind it from the Finnish studio ALA envisioned it as a living room for the nation. Other notable projects from the studio include a theater and concert hall in the city of Kristiansand in southern Norway and a theater in the Finnish town of Lappeenranta near the border with Russia. When ALA architects are not designing cultural buildings, they are working on transport projects such as the Helsinki metro or airport terminal. In the lecture, the studio will be introduced by one of its founders, Antti Nousjoki, who gained experience in Rem Koolhaas' OMA studio, among others.