The plot has been demarcated from the street with a long wall that shelters the yard. The wall consists of the main building and outbuildings. A noise report, which was carried out during the sketching phase, also affected the solution. The sizeable windows that extend to the floor level have been dimensioned according to their principal users – the children. On the street side, the purpose of the large windows is also to create an image of a building that is smaller than it actually is.

Due to the bilingualism,  the functional concept was divided into two parts. The Finnish-speaking groups are located at the southern end of the long building, the Swedish-speaking groups at the northern end, and they have shared facilities in the mid-part of the building. An outdoor ramp divides the yard into areas for Finnish- and Swedish-speaking children. The division of such a large number of children into two can also be seen as an advantage.

The daycare centre and the school form a pair of public buildings. This pair can also be perceived as a gate, in terms of the cityscape, between the different parts of Isokaari street. During the sketching phase, the characteristics of the buildings constructed along Isokaari Street in the 1950s and 1960s were studied. The design of the daycare centre reflects the architecture of the time, but, however, brought up to the present day.

It is a work of art that consists of many parts. There is a large textile hanging on the wall of the daycare centre’s hall, lighting fixtures in staircases and carvings in stones in the yard. The so-called percentage financing art project began during the sketching phase of the building, and the art project was carried out together with the Helsinki Art Museum (HAM). According to the percentage financing, approximately one per cent of the construction budget of the city’s major public building projects is allocated to art acquisitions. The architect didn’t steer the location of the artworks but the artist herself made a proposal. The hanging textile is a key part of the artwork: it is like a map. Some parts of the map recur in the other two parts of the artwork. In addition to the architect, the sketch was also commented on by representatives of the future users of the building.

Outtakes from Architect Antti Luutonen’s interview in Finnish Architectural Review 1/2021