Pasila Comprehensive School and Day-Care Centre serve as a cornerstone in the transformation of the former Pasila railway area into a new, dense urban neighbourhood.

The small plot, situated on steep terrain with an elevation difference of approximately 8 meters, posed challenging conditions and a profound lack of space. To make the most of the limited area, all schoolyards are located on the rooftops of the building.

Furthermore, all outdoor areas are optimised with a variety of multifunctional elements that double as play areas, learning spaces, and recreational zones; The parkour structure also functions as gymnastics stand, the play area naturally transforms into a performance stage, and the atrium stairs serve both as part of the infrastructure and as assembly space.

Both building and schoolyard are arranged to make the most of the sunlight – the winning proposal in the invited competition was adequately named ‘The Sundial’ – and throughout visibility and physical access to outdoor areas are prioritised.

Resembling hanging gardens, one of the main ambitions of the landscape project has to introduce as many plants and green areas as possible to the outdoor facilities.

The lush planting equally divides and connects the different spaces, creating a pleasant microclimate and a more intimate scale where children, pupils, and visitors are sheltered both from wind and the hard building surfaces of the surrounding city. The variation and diversity in the planting also have educational value and all the plants are selected from a robust palette that also attracts insects.

The plants – together with the selected outdoor furniture – also subdivides the rooftop schoolyards into smaller zones that can be used in a multitude of ways. The are spaces for everything from intimate conversations with your bestie, smaller group meetings over class gatherings to school assemblies.

In accordance with the objectives of the City of Helsinki’s Education Division, the school building’s use of space is efficient while also offering versatile facilities for residents. High-quality and durable materials have been used to create a robust and accessible meeting point for the community.

TEAM

Architects: Talli Architects and Mer Architects, Landscape Architects: MASU Planning, Structural engineers: Ramboll Oy, Client: Municipality of Helsinki.

Photographs by Maite Gonzales Laurens Kalle Kouhia