Kylätalo Palttina (Community Centre and Kindergarten), Espoo, Finland

Exemplary design categories: community use and involvement, cultural and historical value, energy efficiency

How the facility meets the needs of education and communities:
The village house - which traditionally serves as the centre of social activities and is often constructed by village communities themselves - is a common structure in many Finnish villages. The goal of this project was to use the concept of a village house by incorporating a day-care centre, open day-care centre for children accompanied by their parents, and facilities for school children and adults from the surrounding community. Incorporating the day-care centre into the house ensured that the building is a central node in the activities of the community. Importantly, the house can accommodate different uses. If, in the future for example, there is no longer a need for day-care facilities, the house can be used to provide services for the elderly. Palttina is the meeting place in the village. On weekdays children are brought in and picked up, they get to know one another, and the parents meet there. Children cared for at home and their parents come to the open day-care centre to socialize. The facilities can be used by the village residents during evenings and weekends. A multitude of activities take place in the evenings: art classes, yoga lessons, childbirth classes. Palttina community centre has been used for weddings, anniversaries and meetings of various local groups. The village house is a wooden structure, and materials are ecological and abundant in Finland. The design is welcoming, small-scale and detailed for small children. Facades are sheltered from rain and snow by big eaves, and a substantial concrete foundation enlarged into a terrace. The dimensions of the wooden columns and beams inside the building are exaggerated to provide redundant safety in case of a fire, greater life span and for aesthetic reasons. The big eaves provides shade for the windows in the summer when the sun is high in the sky thus reducing the need for cooling, while letting sunlight enter the house in the winter. The village house is available for use every day of the year, at every hour, and is therefore an ecological building compared to facilities with less efficient use.

Involvement of users and the local community in the planning and design process:
The community was not involved as the house was constructed as part of a new village. Users were represented by the head of a nearby day-care centre and people with practical experience of day-care and open day-care centres. Other day-care centres where also visited and comments and experiences were gathered from the staff.

Activity Areas: Kindergarten facilities: 4 playrooms, 2 nature rooms for play with water and plants, 2 sleeping rooms with raised floors for naps and reading stories, separate small house for woodwork and handicrafts, indoor “piazza” , a multi-purpose central room for the day-care centre, various entrance halls and washing rooms designed for play. Open day care facilities/ communal facilities: Living room with kitchen and fireplace open for the residents as a meeting place for the village, hall for meetings and sports (with shower and dressing room for evening and weekend use), reading room/library mainly for schoolchildren for doing their homework after school, multimedia room with computers, playroom for open day-care centre, studio for painting, sculpting and ceramic work.

Project costs: EUR 4,000,000.00

Source: Submitted to OECD for "Designing for Education: Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities 2011" in 2010