The Raadi Education and Community Centre architectural competition set a clear task: to design an educational campus that serves 1,950 students and 264 kindergarten children, but also functions as a community centre. The solution submitted to the competition, “Community under Roofs”, had to connect six different buildings – a primary school, a kindergarten, a sports hall, a music school, a library and an extension – into a complete complex with a stadium and a diverse outdoor activity area. The challenge was to create architecture that functions both in everyday school life and as a centre for community events.

The heart of our concept was the idea that the learning environment does not end with the classroom walls, but expands through winter gardens and large glass surfaces directly into nature. The CLT timber structure on a regular 8×6 metre grid created a structure that allows the buildings and the landscape to develop together – like a living system that adapts to changing times and needs. The outdoor space became a natural extension of the classrooms, where children can learn both indoors and between the ditches, woodland and garden areas.

The heart of our concept was the idea that the learning environment does not end with the classroom walls, but expands through winter gardens and large glass surfaces directly into nature. The CLT timber structure on a regular 8×6 metre grid created a structure that allows the buildings and the landscape to develop together – like a living system that adapts to changing times and needs. The outdoor space became a natural extension of the classrooms, where children can learn both indoors and between the ditches, woodland and garden areas.

Winning first place confirmed that our approach – where buildings and landscape form a single system – met the objectives of the competition. The project will be a place where people come not only to study, but to live. Raadi Educational Campus shows how modern wooden architecture can create spaces that connect the community, where learning and life activities naturally mix.