Vyborg Library

[5] World War II marked a turning point in the history not only of the library but the city of Vyborg itself, as it was ceded to the Soviet Union.

[10]The restoration project gained speed in 2010 when Finnish president Tarja Halonen met with then-Russian prime minister Vladimir Putin and asked about the library.

[11] In 2015 it also received the Europa Nostra Award, the jury calling the restoration "exceptionally well-researched and highly sensitive" and commending the project's transnational collaboration.

Roberts was challenging the introspective view Finns have of their former city, by organising and filming writing workshops arranged for local Vyborg youths.

[13] When I designed the Viipuri City Library (and I had plenty of time, a whole five years), I spent long periods getting my range, as it were, with naive drawings.

I drew all kinds of fantastic mountain landscapes, with slopes lit by many suns in different positions, which gradually gave rise to the main idea of the building.

The architectural framework of the library comprises several reading and lending areas stepped at different levels, with the administrative and supervisory centre at the peak.

My childlike drawings were only indirectly linked with architectural thinking, but they eventually led to an interweaving of the section and ground plan, and to a kind of unity of horizontal and vertical construction.