Finnish schools at Venice Architecture Biennale
Finland will put on display seven school buildings at the Venice Architecture Biennale, all built in the past decade and each designed by a different architectural firm.
Schools are an important part of the Finnish built environment, and recent school architecture in the country has aimed at the highest quality in school architecture. Well-designed schools support teaching and learning processes.
Spatial solutions can inspire and empower students, and they can encourage learning, according to Dr Kaisa Nuikkinen, Head Architect at the Helsinki City Education Department, who has studied the effect of the school environment on child wellbeing.
According to the OECD Programme of International Student Assessment, Finland today enjoys one of the best school systems in the world.
The Finnish school architecture exhibition at the Venice Biennale will be on display at the Finnish Pavilion designed by Alvar Aalto in 1955, which is located centrally in the Giardini area of Venice.
Six of the seven schools displayed are in the Helsinki region. The Strömberg School (Helsinki; Architects Kari Järvinen and Merja Nieminen), built into an old machine workshop, has a cheerful look supportive of learning. The Viikki Teacher Training School (Helsinki; Ark-house Architects) expresses the multiple roles of the institution with its colourful facades. The Hiidenkivi Comprehensive School (Helsinki; Seppo Häkli) is refreshingly youthful. The Sakarinmäki School (Sipoo; Sari Nieminen Architects) is gentle and inspiring. The glass-walled Enter school and vocational college (Sipoo; K2S Architects) is monumental. The Kirkkojärvi School (Espoo; Väinö Nikkilä, Riina Palva, Jussi Palva, Ilkka Salminen) is sincere in its rectilinear architecture.
The Finnish school architecture exhibition is produced by the Museum of Finnish Architecture and curated by Roy Mänttäri.
12th International Architecture Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia, August 29 to November 21, 2010
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