Public building · North Helsinki

Lukusali: a dining hall and library for a 1950s school

A single-storey hall beside a three-storey school from the 1950s. At lunchtime it is the dining room; the rest of the day it is the school library and reading room, lit evenly from the north.

Project: SK-027
Type: Public building, school
Location: North Helsinki
Area: 940 m² new, 300 m² renovated
Seats: About 240 at lunch
Completed: 2024
Client: Municipal school owner
Our role: Design tender, design to handover

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Site plan with the hatched existing school, the new hall in black, the schoolyard, a sports field and trees — **01 Site plan · 1:1000**The existing school (hatched) and the new hall (black) with the glazed link between them. The schoolyard and sports field stay as they were.

Plan of the new hall with a structural grid, columns, dining tables, a serving kitchen, a stair to the mezzanine and the existing school wing — **02 Ground floor plan · 1:200**1 Dining hall, 2 Library and reading room with a mezzanine above (dashed), 3 Serving kitchen, 4 Glazed link, 5 Existing school, 6 Entrance from the schoolyard. Grid A–F and 1–5 at 6.0 and 6.5 metres.

Section through the hall with a sawtooth roof, a mezzanine, daylight lines in orange and the old school in the background — **03 Section B–B · 1:200**Four north-facing roof lights bring even daylight deep into the hall. The library mezzanine sits under the first two. The old school stands behind, unchanged.

Axonometric of the new hall with four strips of roof glazing, the glazed link and the long existing school building — **04 Axonometric**Seen from the north-east: four strips of roof glazing, the glazed link to the school and the new entrance canopy.

The brief

The school had grown. Pupils ate in three shifts in a basement canteen, and the library was a row of shelves in a corridor. The owner wanted one new room that could do both jobs, without touching the protected look of the 1950s building.

One room, two uses

From 10.30 to 13.00 the hall seats about 240 pupils at long tables. After lunch the tables fold and stack along the walls, and the room becomes a reading hall, an assembly space and an exam room. The library proper sits on a mezzanine above the serving kitchen.

Light from the north

The sawtooth roof turns four strips of glazing towards the north. Daylight arrives evenly, without glare on the tables or on screens, and the acoustic ceiling between the glulam beams keeps a full room surprisingly calm.

Respecting the old school

The new hall is lower than the school and set back from its facade. A glazed link joins them where an old fire escape used to be, so no original window had to be removed.

What we delivered

Design tender response and needs assessment with teachers
Sketch and permit design, principal designer
Construction drawings with structural, HVAC and acoustic engineers
Furniture layout and the library joinery
Site meetings and the final inspection

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