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Dubai should have a reading district like Helsinki

Families can plonk on the stairs and spend some time engaged in several non-screen-related activities.

Hygge (hoo-gah) I knew meant all things cozy in Danish, but I had to use a translation tool for Brygga, which means bridge or to bridge, to connect. I came across the word browsing the website of a building that has my curiosity: the library Oodi in Helsinki that opened this past fortnight, a real design marvel. Oodi is Ode in Finnish. Understandably, there was much excitement in that part of the world about this cool new cultural space that is free. The space has great acoustics, just one of its several fine aspects. So, despite the many people ('footfall' in retail terms), sounds remain muted.
I read on oodihelsinki.fi about how people ran into neighbours and acquaintances at the library, how popular the cinnamon hearts available at the eatery were, how people were enjoying sitting by the window because of the great views, and how this project, a welcoming public space, is so great to help curb deterioration of literacy. Families can plonk on the stairs and spend some time engaged in several non-screen-related activities.
Well-designed, well-executed spaces such as these set examples and make you think. We're the city that has a Museum of the Future springing up (the basic structure of which is completed, as Khaleej Times reported in November). It's on track for the inauguration in 2020. As its next massive project, why can't Dubai get one of multi-faceted libraries? We know how to 'go big', how to set records, how to complete projects on time. Why not this?
The New York Times described Oodi's architecture as "A swooping three-story construction of wood, steel and glass that looks like a ship topped with a layer of ice." The building cost 98 million euros, or around $110 million, including equipment. I like the wood part. Don't see enough of it on the Dubai skyline. I was already visualising where Dubai might consider situating a similar space. Knowledge Village, perhaps? It would help Dubai overcome its reputation for loving only bling.
That part of the world is way ahead in education, reading, a respect and interest in books - even though Oodi seems much beyond, much more than simply a library. The three large floors each serve a different purpose. Some spaces are more interactive, others are quieter. Residents can have meetings there, work on hobbies and crafts, read, play games (there's a gaming room with PlayStation consoles). There are facilities also for 3-D printing, coffee-drinking. and whatever vinyl cutters are used for. There are even sewing machines on the second floor!
I find it uplifting, this idea of someone flipping through newspapers sitting side by side someone else concentrating on a cross stich pattern or darning a pair of ripped trousers. If there was such a place in Dubai, maybe the crowds in malls would thin?
Library Oodi will also have a sauna and a movie theatre. For every new nugget I learnt, I grew convinced of how there was something 'Dubai-esque' about its scope. Library Oodi supposed to serve the function of a futuristic town square. Instead of us inaugurating replicas of outdoor malls all with the same look, same shops, why can't we venture into something like this?
During the opening on Dec. 5-6, Director Anna-Maria Soininvaara said that 12,000 items were borrowed, 2,500 returned - a figure that confused me, because surely the place just opened? - and 9,000 Christmas pastries were sold.
The New York Times quoted Tommi Laitio, the city's executive director for culture and leisure: "We often think that things like social cohesion or democracy are just words, but in spaces like these they really come to life. You need some social infrastructure for communities to work. You can't build them on friendship, or this abstract idea of living together."
Look up their website. Maybe you swoon at the images, maybe you don't. But it's worth considering the idea of what's possible if a city puts its mind to developing cultural spaces that are free and beneficial in several ways for its people. We could call it the reading district.
- nivriti@khaleejtimes.com