Ojala daycare centre and school

Ojala daycare and school is a daycare and educational building completed in Tampere, in the new Ojala area, in 2024. The building houses a daycare center designed for 160 children and pre-school and primary education facilities designed for 150 children.

The elongated, rectangular building is positioned on the northern side of the plot, creating a buffer between the yard areas and the street. The daycare center and school yard lies to the south of the building, where it meets the adjacent park at the plot’s edge. With a clean, sharp design language and distinct window openings, the architecture is truly grand. All entrance canopies are integrated recesses within the building’s mass, and its beveled gable roof lends the structure a clear, recognizable character.

The daycare group facilities are located at the east end of the building. These facilities are organized into general-purpose ‘home areas,’ each serving two daycare groups. Large group spaces within these home areas are positioned along the building’s outer walls, maximizing natural light. In the building’s central frame, you’ll find the home areas’ shared toilets and utility rooms. Additionally, small group spaces with glass walls open onto the hallways here.

The pre-school and primary education facilities, along with spaces for administration and maintenance, are situated at the west end of the building. The dining room and gym, centrally located for easy access by all users, form the heart of the building. These spaces are also available for rental to evening users.

The spatial design prioritizes generality and adaptability, allowing for a wide variety of uses. In a new residential area, the age distribution of children can fluctuate significantly over the years, which directly impacts the evolving space needs of the local daycare center and school.

The design also supports diverse pedagogical approaches. For instance, soundproof folding walls allow for the division of preschool and primary education classrooms into smaller group spaces, or they can be combined to facilitate co-teaching. Furthermore, some kindergarten and preschool group spaces can merge into larger classrooms. This flexibility means they can accommodate an entire primary education group if needed, depending on the age distribution of children in the area.

The building and its yard are accessible from all directions. To ensure safety, maintenance and escort traffic are separated from other areas. The main entrance and hall can be accessed directly from the street, which is convenient for evening events. The entrance to the school and kindergarten is from a fenced playground, while the kitchen, staff facilities, and technical rooms are accessed from the maintenance yard.

The building’s frame is primarily constructed from CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber) wood elements. Inside, as much of the elements’ natural wood surfaces have been left visible as possible; their texture and tone create a natural and warm atmosphere. The rest of the interior features a restrained and calm color scheme, fostering a soothing environment that supports concentration for early childhood and primary education activities.

The building’s facades are clad in vertical wood, structured with battens. This wood cladding, painted in a muted red tone, complements the urban aesthetic of the new development. The goal here is to emphasize timber construction while introducing a colorful yet naturally consistent palette to the area’s buildings.

Technical solutions

The building is a two-story wooden structure, featuring a P2 fire rating and equipped with a sprinkler system. The client’s primary goals for this building were to ensure that all solutions were functionally reliable, safe, long-lasting, and maintainable from a building physics perspective. The selection of structures, components, and technical systems was carefully considered to minimize energy consumption and operating costs throughout the building’s entire lifecycle.

The exterior walls feature a single-material, solid CLT structure, with the exterior cladding applied directly without additional thermal insulation. Inside, the load-bearing partition walls are primarily made of CLT. Thanks to the sprinkler system, the CLT and other wooden surfaces could remain exposed indoors without requiring fire protection treatment.

However, at the client’s request, all wet rooms are constructed from stone. The civil defense shelter, kitchen, and fire-compartmented escape stairs also utilize concrete element structures. The intermediate floors are made from concrete hollow-core slabs.

The building’s frame is therefore a hybrid solution. Its design and layout carefully considered the phased installation sequence of the concrete and CLT elements. The upper floor and roof were constructed using wooden roof trusses. The entire construction process took place inside a large, uniform weather shelter.

Environmental friendliness was a cornerstone of this project, with a strong focus on achieving optimal energy efficiency and a low carbon footprint. This commitment is reflected not only in the energy-efficient and carbon-sequestering structural solutions but also in the building’s technical systems.

Beyond conventional energy-saving measures, the building features a hybrid heating system that combines geothermal and district heating. A solar power plant was also installed on the roof.

Significant attention was given to stormwater management in the yard areas, incorporating both water-permeable surface materials and innovative stormwater solutions. The yard itself utilizes numerous natural surface materials. For instance, play equipment safety surfaces are made from safety chips rather than plastic-based coatings, and meadow vegetation has replaced grass in the yard’s perimeter areas.

Construction project

The site was developed using a rental project model, beginning with a tender process for various bidders and their proposed design solutions. The winning bid came from Rakennusliike Lapti Oy and NREP Oy.

Lapti then established a mutual real estate limited liability company for the project and took on responsibility for its planning and implementation. During the construction phase, Tampereen timalpalvelut oversaw the interests of the City of Tampere, who would be the tenant.

Following construction, the real estate limited liability company was transferred to NREP Oy, an investment company. NREP now serves as the lessor for the City of Tampere’s Real Estate, Facilities and Housing Policy service group, which in turn leases the site for early childhood education and basic education. The end-user of the premises has committed to a twenty-year lease agreement with the City of Tampere.

Given the tight project schedule, the chosen project model and contract format allowed for overlapping design phases, continuous cost management throughout the process, and the commencement of construction even before all implementation plans were finalized.

The project was tendered from December 2021 to April 2022, with the bidder selection finalized in June 2022. Project planning began in August 2022, and the project plan received board approval in January 2023.

Permit and implementation planning actually started even earlier, in October 2022, before the project plan was officially approved. A building permit for the project was then granted in March 2023.

Preparatory construction and earthworks began on the site in March 2023, under an early commencement permit. Actual construction work started in May 2023, once the building permit became legally valid.

The concrete element frame was installed in June-July 2023, followed by the erection of a weather shelter. The CLT frame was then installed within this shelter from August to October 2023.

Building construction concluded in June 2024, at which point the interior spaces were handed over to the client, allowing the end-user to begin moving in and preparing for operations. Yard work wrapped up in July 2024, and the entire site, including the outdoor areas, was handed over to the client and taken into use in August 2024.