Children are at the heart of the design of the Sirkkala School, located in the eastern centre of Turku. The spaces are designed on their terms to adapt to the varying needs of their daily use.
The colour scheme of the interior of the buildings is based on the apple orchard that used to stand on the site. The newer buildings have the colour scheme of apple trees, while the older ones are inspired by the vegetation surrounding the apple orchard. The colour schemes of the renovated buildings also take into account the colours typical of the original construction period.
It was a challenge to fit the space requirements into the existing building stock and the new building. The new building’s spatial design challenges included the steep elevation of the site, which limited the amount of natural light available to the first floors, with a large part of the external wall against the ground.
As the design progressed, the need to modify the old buildings increased and the challenge was to fit modern learning environments into the old timber buildings. Several alternatives for style solutions were considered and discussed with the client and users to find the best solution.
