Maatulli School and Kindergarten

Maatulli School and Kindergarten is located in Tapulikaupunki, a 1970s suburb in Helsinki characterized by prefabricated housing blocks and fragmented park spaces. Replacing an outdated school, the project realizes the city’s aim to create a healthy, flexible and community-orientated learning environment that strengthens social and spatial cohesion. Five interconnected timber buildings arranged around a circular courtyard form a green node in the neighbourhood, connecting surrounding parks and pathways into a unified environment that supports learning, community and wellbeing.

Locating and unifying a large school and kindergarten within a sensitive park and segregated suburb presented both a challenge and an opportunity to rethink educational architecture as a catalyst for social and environmental change. The program was divided into smaller blocks that mediate between the school’s scale and surrounding low-rise housing and park. Entrances face all directions, with the main entrance connecting to the northern station route and others to the southern schoolyard, reinforcing openness and connectivity. The village-like organization with distinct blocks for learning (grades 0-9), dining, sports and kindergarten around a central courtyard, creates a human-scale environment that fosters belonging and easy navigation. Flexible spaces with movable partitions adapt to varied teaching and community use after school hours. The use of natural materials and a strong indoor–outdoor connection deepen children’s relationship with nature and their care for the environment.

The school is defined by its mass-timber construction and honest expression of material. Locally sourced glulam columns and beams, combined with CLT floors and exterior walls, form a clear, rational grid that allows flexible layouts and future adaptation to evolving educational needs. Structural stability is provided by CLT shear walls and reinforced concrete cores. Prefabricated and standardized timber elements ensured precision, reduced waste, and shortened the construction period, making the process both efficient and cost-conscious. The exposed timber structure gives the building its warm, tactile character. Local spruce and pine are left untreated indoors, while the spruce façade cladding is finished with a breathable mineral greying stain that allows the timber to weather naturally and requires no maintenance. Vertical timber pilasters articulate the façades, recalling the rhythm of forests and giving each block a distinct identity while blending with the surrounding landscape.