Description

Located at the edge of a residential area close to the town centre of Nummela, the school is broken down into a number of smaller school units each of which is connected to the whole. A large overhanging roof slopes gently down from the three-storey upper school buildings to the lower two-storey daycare building creating a subtle spatial dynamic, a dramatic contrast between the verticality of the heavy red-brick and glass walls and the horizontality of the lightly tilting roof plane. This roof is a unifying element which asserts the integrity of a single building, albeit one which has separate and distinctive parts.

Overhanging the perimeter walls all the way round, the roof has a functional as well as a symbolic effect, acting as a shelter for those entering the building from a number of different directions (there is no single main entrance, rather each part has its own entrance for differently aged children). All entrances are treated as terraces, each with its own wooden deck, roof canopy and entrance porch, a transitional space between the inside and the outside. Children’s areas each have their own communal work/hanging out area. Classrooms cluster around these courtyards with generous glazed vision panels enabling teachers to monitor children working in the group setting from adjacent classrooms.

Each communal area is fitted with computers, attractive storage and side benches for informal group interaction. There are eating zones and refreshment areas integrated into the study zones. Most circulation takes place within these social spaces, their very spaciousness helping to keep students calm and engaged with the learning ethos, dissolving the usual segmentation of the school day into strict functional time periods. Common spaces bring children aged 7-15 together at various points of the day. At its very heart lies the three-storey-high covered piazza, a sort of grand village square for the whole community to meet and dine. There is an adjacent kitchen and sports hall with sliding folding wall panels which can be drawn back on occasion to create a single whole school meeting place or a theatre for community events.

Slung one level above the piazza is the glazed ‘mediatheque’, a central information point. Right next door is the quiet computer work area, each of these three spaces visually linked by glazed panels which create a sense of relaxed transparency, a spatial quality common throughout the building, providing a natural form of supervision. The central feature in the media centre and library is the distinctive curvy blue seating. It can be used in a variety of ways for group gatherings or simply for hanging out as well as for computer work, reading and studying. Tables for computers can be inserted in the middle, power being drawn up through the floor. Within the computer suite, curvy tables are used to line the walls which bring a sense of fun to the spaces. In many ways this is a very adult form of design, one might almost describe it as ‘corporate’ in its spirit, reminiscent of a high tech headquarters office building rather than a school. Yet fundamentally this is the central idea, that even the youngest people should be treated as citizens, with an uncluttered relaxed form of architecture which does not set out to patronise.

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Originally published in: Mark Dudek, Schools and Kindergartens: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2015.