The Kisakenttä Daycare Centre was initially designed to be both elementary school and daycare centre. Today the building serves only as a daycare centre. It is located in the Tuira suburb in Oulu. The site is flat meadowland lying between a southwest pine slope and a busy street. Beyond the street, there is a fine view of the sea through a park.

The building delimits the street area, and there is a quiet courtyard behind its wall-like mass, which runs around the edges of the site. The nearby buildings are mixed and did not offer any guidelines for the form of the building. The architects Juha Pasanen and Lasse Vahtera, therefore, sought themes and impressions typical of a daycare centre and school.

The entrance yards, main doors, service yard and parking areas are on the street side. A ‘gateway wall’ stands between the public and more private functions. The entrances are off the courtyard, which is a large area divided into sectors by age group. Near the entrance to each sector, there is a paved alleyway along which the play equipment, playhouses and covered areas are clustered. Beyond this, there is a playground and farther off a ‘forest’ in practically a natural state.

The entrances and home areas are in pairs with the same room programme. The children’s rooms calling for concentration and peace are on the courtyard side. The gym, playroom and school lobby look out over the park and sea on the street side.

The sections and home areas with a conventional room programme have plenty of different ‘places’: spaces or corners where the children can play in smaller groups or be quite alone. The interiors are in pale colours, and the walls are mainly white. Cosiness is furthered with parquet floors and soft sofas. The part linking the daycare centre and the school – near the main entrance, hall and administrative facilities – is a lobby area.

Kisakenttä Daycare Centre was designed in 1982­–84 and built 1984­–86.

Source: Finnish Architectural Review 6/1986