The high school and community center Monio is currently under construction in Tuusula Rykmentinpuisto in Hyrylä’s old barracks area. It is becoming a common living room for the citizens of the municipality, not only a modern and ecological school building. In addition to Tuusula high school, Tuusulan Opisto, visual arts school Tuusulan kuvataidekoulu and music college Keskisen Uudenmaan musiikkiopisto are located under the same roof. In addition, the building will have meeting, performance and exercise facilities for the citizens of the municipality. Various events, such as concerts, trade fairs, exhibitions and corporate events, can be organized in the flexible premises.
The architecture of the building adapts to the style of Hyrylä’s former garrison area, but at the same time it represents modern wooden construction, where wooden structures are used as an impressive architectural effect. The massive timber log school consists of five intersecting log houses that represents the scale of the old barrack buildings. The five log houses border high and meandering interior streets which create the atmosphere of a small town. The cladding of the facades and the shape of the roof refer to the history by reminding the viewer of the old garrison that operated in the area.
An ecological and healthy wooden school building
The building has a hybrid frame made of wood, concrete and steel. The wooden frame consists of wooden intermediate floors, glulam pillars and steel beams. The hybrid frame is built from approximately a thousand concrete elements. Basement structures, plinths and footing structures have been poured on site. The fire resistance time requirement for the load-bearing structures of the building is usually 60 minutes, except for 90 minutes in library and multi-purpose spaces and warehouses. The fire resistance time requirement for compartmentalized structures is usually 60 minutes.
Compared to traditional construction, wooden construction significantly reduces carbon dioxide emissions already during construction, and after construction the wood acts as a long-term carbon storage throughout the building’s life cycle. As an organic and breathable building material, wood improves indoor air quality and acoustics of premises. After completion Monio will be heated with carbon-neutral district heating and use green electricity which makes it even more ecological.
Flexible multifunctional spaces without compromising on fire safety
Monio’s premises are designed to be flexible, open and multi-purpose. Building’s future users, like teachers and students, cultural actors, decision makers and municipal employees, were included in the planning from the beginning. Instead of traditional classrooms, a significant part of Monio’s learning spaces have been placed in open lobbies. The implementation required the justification of architectural solutions with performance-based fire safety design. Larger facilities enable the number of students to increase, and the course offerings can be increased and diversified. The flexibly transformable spaces are excellent for organizing various events.
Our services in the project
KK-Palokonsultti Oy has drawn up a fire engineering plan and a fire stop plan, given expert opinions, and consulted architects and other designers in the planning and construction phases of the project. The site’s largest three-story fire compartment (approx. 3300 m2), exceeds the maximum size allowed by the traditional table dimensioning (1200 m2). Therefore it has been justified with performance-based design (comparison principle). It has also been justified that in a sprinklered building no fire protection treatment is required for the surfaces of the log-built exterior wall of the ground level floor. Despite the deviations, the overall fire safety of the building has been found to be at least in line with or better than the fire safety level of the traditional table dimensions.
Monio in a nutshell
Monio’s contractor is Lujatalo Oy. The project will be implemented as a total price contract, i.e. a traditional competitive contract, which Lujatalo won in spring 2021. For Lujatalo, the project is the first project with a hybrid frame and timber log facade. The cost of the project ordered by the municipality of Tuusula is 27.2 million euros. The total area of the building is 8773 m2. Kuutti Halinen and Mikki Ristola from AOR Arkkitehdit Oy are responsible for Monio’s architectural design. Construction work has progressed according to schedule. Monio is scheduled to be completed by the summer of 2023.
