Kurkimoisio Daycare Centre

The Kurkimoisio daycare centre is a pilot building in a concept project for new daycare centres to be built in the City of Helsinki. The aim of the project is to create a daycare centre model that is fast and inexpensive to build and versatile in terms of space utilization.

In the modular daycare centre concept developed by the City of Helsinki and GSP Group, standardized design solutions adapt to all modern implementation alternatives, including modular element solutions. The learning environment has been developed in line with the guidelines of the Department of Early Education and Care, especially in view of small group and variable activity group activities.

The building is located towards the northern end of the plot, right next to the street area. The yard and the playground open to the south and west. The yard area consists of a built playground area in the south and a natural wooded area in the north-west.

The general appearance of the building is characterized by a rational simplicity that allows for different implementation techniques. The building has a multi-gabled roof to distinguish it from the surrounding residential buildings. The facade is made of vertical fine-sawn 28 mm straight-edged notched panels with 5 mm slots, treated with linseed oil paint. The gables and box-type eaves have factory-painted sheet steel structures.

The interior spaces are straightforward, easily perceptible and easy to convert for different purposes. Spatial efficiency has been improved by eliminating corridors and creating a layout of open activity areas.

The fire class of the building is P3. The building consists of three fire compartments, two on the ground floor and one in the attic, where the technical facilities are located.

The base floor is a cast-in-situ reinforced concrete plate. The load-bearing vertical frame of the building consists of exterior and partition walls and glulam pillars. The beams crossing the open spaces are made of laminated veneer lumber and glulam. The intermediate floor of the HVAC room has a wooden frame.

The frame structure of the roofing consists of nail plate trusses. The heat insulation and the vapour barrier are installed on the tie beam level. For cost-saving reasons, the roof material choice was bitumen felt. Unfortunately, the implementation of this pilot project using prefabricated elements did not materialize. The construction took place on site. The whole construction process was carried out under a weather shelter.