Facilities are being updated to meet changing teaching and learning methods. In addition to silent study spaces, there is a need for more group workspaces and spaces to participate in remote lectures, for example. The renovation will also include technical upgrades to the building, which is now more than 20 years old.
The library in Kaisa House will be equipped with more quiet reading and working areas and computer workstations. Some of the computer workstations will be Designer workstations. Quiet work areas are also available in the National Library, for example.
A night access, where the self-study facility is open with an access key outside opening hours, is not currently available in the temporary facilities on the city centre campus. When Aleksandria is closed, the Main Library in Kaisa House has extended opening hours.
The University of Helsinki has already stated in the past that self-study facilities will not be kept open 24 hours a day in order to ensure the importance of rest for well-being.
Computer workstations are available in Kaisa House on floors 2, 4, 5 and 6 and in computer room 4060 (4th floor). All computers in the library facilities require logging in using a University of Helsinki user account. Workstations with dock displays can be found on the 2nd floor.
Printing is possible in Kaisa House on the 4th floor and in the Aleksandria lobby.
There are two Examinarium exam rooms in Kaisa House, located on the 3rd and 5th floors of the library (Examinarium 3006 and Examinarium 5057).
The new Aleksandria will have different sound zones for different activities. After the renovation, the learning centre will have more smaller group work spaces. On the 1st floor of the Aleksandria, there will be a break-out area with water points and microwave ovens. Reading areas for quiet and silent work will be added on the 3rd and 4th floors. The quiet work areas will be enclosed by a soundproof glass wall.
The renovated spaces will also include desktop workstations, 1-2 laptop lenders and flexi workstations with a separate 27" screen. At these workstations, students can connect their own laptop, or a computer borrowed from the laptop lender to a larger screen.
Aleksandria and Kaisa House will be designed together as a whole to provide sufficient working facilities to meet the needs of the student community.
The aim is to have at least as many working spaces as before the renovation. No final furniture plans have been made.
Aleksandria will have lockable lockers for daytime use and mobile storage units for thesis materials that can be borrowed for a month.
The mobile storage units currently on loan from Aleksandria are in use until 18 June 2024.