TAIKA KINDERGARTEN NOMINATED FOR THE WOOD AWARD / PUUPALKINTO 2019

The Taika Kindergarten by OOPEAA has been nominated as a candidate for the Wood Award / Puupalkinto 2019. The jury has selected 14 projects in total as candidates for the Wood Award 2019. The award will be announced on the Wood Day / Puupäivä on November 28, 2019 at the Messukeskus Conference Center in Helsinki.

In addition to the winner to be decided by the jury, there will also be a winner chosen by the audience through online voting. Voting is open until November 14, 2019.

You can find all the nominees and vote for your favorite one HERE

The Wood Award is granted annually as a sign of recognition to a building, interior or structure that represents Finnish wood architecture of the highest quality or in which wood has been applied in a way that advances research and development in construction techniques in a significant way. The prize was given out for the first time in 1994 and has since been granted annually. The prize is grant by the Wood Information Center Finland.

The Taika Kindergarten is designed with the needs and the scale of children in mind to create a place of daycare and overnight care well in line with the values of the Nordic culture. Despite the large number of children served, Taika offers a home-like scale. It provides daycare for 225 children in the ages of 1-7 and is a place of work for 50 staff members. Taika also offers overnight care for a rotating group of 200 children with a maximum of 60 children spending the night there at a time. All overnight childcare offered by the City is now gathered under one roof. Also the offices of the regional directors of early education are now all in one place, which supports their work as a team. Taika also offers shared spaces for the community to use for meetings and performances in the evening hours and weekends.

For more information on the Taika Kindergarten, see HERE