Situated in the suburb of Vuosaari in Helsinki, the oblong building lies on hillside gently sloping to the south and frames the western side of Mustakivi park, which is central to the community and provides the "lungs" of the neighbourhood. The community centre houses a 16-class primary school; special education facilities, which are partially for outside use; a gym; a combined library and cafeteria; and a three-group day-care centre. The school is based on a module scheme: comb-like, the class modules are situated on two floors by an internal street which runs through the building. They are entered from the park, from ground level, or through an unheated staircase. The views from the internal street open to the open park landscape and the high-ceilinged library-cafeteria. The day-care centre is functionally connected to the school by the shared kitchen and the pre-school education premises.
At both ends of the building there is a small public square, bordered by parts of the mass consisting of hot-dipped galvanised corrugated-iron sheets. The sheet metal temple of the gym in the north can be seen at the end and guides the view towards the first floor entrance. The round "ufo" of the south has landed to signify the day-care centre and delineates the urban square with its intimate, small scale.
The architecture of the building aims at an easygoing ambience, in terms of both composition and colour and materials. This aim is harmonious with the aims set for the use of the building. The workshop feeling differentiates the atmosphere from the traditional authoritarian school environment, enabling learning through play and experimentation instead.
The exterior architecture aims to make the most of the good sides of fully prefabricated construction: vertical seams are emphasised by aluminium window elements as high as the storeys. The composition of concrete parts makes use of varying size and surface treatment, creating a free rhythm out of rectangles, different on the ground and first floors. The blue, green, and brown hues of the concrete derive from lazure technique: the concrete is treated with copper or iron oxide, which is patinated with acid. The surface of the white concrete is marked by formwork; the black elements contain the pigment gabro, with an exposed aggregate concrete surface. The brick is treated with transparent rendering. The blue rendering is on dark brown brick and the wine-coloured on red brick: the aim is to achieve an impression of depth as in a painting by alternating cold and warm hues.
The crib-like steel entrance canopies and courtyard canopies can be regarded as three-dimensional "drawings in the air". They provide the monolithic mass with a conrasting graphic element. The architects asked the artist Markku Pääkkönen to compile the colour plan for the plywood wall of the entrance facade: a fully fledged public work of art was thus included in the project with a minimum of expense.
The artworks in the interior are by Marjatta Kekki and Jussi Heikkilä.

Pentti Kareoja, Markku Erholtz