Sakarinmäki School

The new Sakarinmäki School in Sipoo, just east of Helsinki, houses educational spaces for school children at all levels of primary education, as well as a congregational centre and day care. Architecturally the school is thoroughly contemporary and yet it also has a certain rural character. The colours -shades of red, brown, yellow and grey- are reminiscent of traditional Finnish wooden houses and stately manors. Seen from the main road it looks as if it has been there for a long time. The Sakarinmäki School design is based on the idea of arranging the different units as a village, with streets and alleys between the volumes. All the different units have lightweight façades clad with fine vertical or horizontal wood panelling, and each unit has its own colour which extends to the internal 'piazza'. Among many new and highly praised school buildings in Finland this modestly sized newcomer belongs to the most sympathetic. It stands alone in the landscape but is like a village itself.