Nummikeskus

What happens when problems are transformed into positives and a crisis is regarded as an opportunity? – The result is a novel service centre in line with the lifecycle philosophy. Located in Hämeenlinna, Nummikeskus houses a primary and secondary school, maternity clinic, pre-school nursery, library and cultural, fitness and youth services. In combination with the functional yard area, it serves local residents from morning until evening. On completion, the school became one of Finland’s most modern basic education learning environments.

Nummikeskus opened its doors to the students in August 2018 when it welcomed nearly 900 children in grades 1 to 9. Under the guidance of the headmaster, the school is creating new communal pedagogical practices, such as teaching in teams, and communal learning techniques, along with novel operating cultures that support growth and learning. The main architect of Nummikeskus was architect office Linja Arkkitehdit Oy and YIT Caverion was responsible for construction.

Realising strategic targets through communal design

The Nummikeskus project came about through the need to gain more space for the primary school students. Because of indoor problems with air quality, the existing premises were unfit for purpose and had to be demolished. In the end, the project expanded to cover the construction of premises for a primary and secondary school, maternity clinic, pre-school nursery, library, cultural, fitness and youth services and services offered by various third-sector operators.

At the time when Nummikeskus was being planned, the city of Hämeenlinna emphasised the lifecycle model in the organisation and production of services for children and adolescents. With this model, the development and upbringing of children and adolescents is seen as a process that lasts from infancy to puberty and takes place under the guidance of the same adults. The goal of the City of Hämeenlinna is to bring the services for children and adolescents together also physically: housing day-care centres and schools under the same roof, introducing youth workers to schools and building maternity clinics in connection with day-care centres.

A model for modern construction

As a built environment, Nummikeskus is intended to inspire and encourage other parties responsible for the development and construction of schools to realise their projects with a new, functional and dialogue-based model. The project represented a learning curve for all the participants. The tight schedule in particular presented challenges to execution of the initial phases. To avoid the backward steps en route to the finish line, it would have been beneficial if representatives of the users had been invited to participate in the design work earlier in the process. For smoother progress, some decisions could have been made before the kick- off of the project and a larger number of users could have been involved in the process.

All in all, the Nummikeskus model is a recommended approach to tackling modern construction projects. Having several parties involved in design and in planning of the activities that will take place in the building creates a strong, diverse foundation for the project.

“We hope that Nummikeskus, which gathers people of all ages in a single location, promotes a sense of community, understanding and active lifestyles among local residents”, says Markku Rimpelä, Hämeenlinna’s Head of Strategy.