The second planned location of my trip was this building. It was originally built in the 1940’s as a kindergarten for the kids of a local factory. It was designed by famous architect Alvar Aalto’s office, but Aalto himself didn’t design it.
Most recently the building served as a community centre, but it was abandoned in 2012. The building has been degrading ever since. The town has been looking for ideas how to use it and has even been trying to sell it. In 2019 someone lit a pile of old newspapers inside almost burning the whole thing down. Two teenagers spotted the smoke and put out the fire with a bottle of water saving the building.
This location has been featured along with the story already earlier. You can read it here.
The shape of the building was very irregular. It was like a group of differently sized one family houses built in a chain.
All windows had been shut. I was looking for a way in, but wasn’t sure if I’d get any good pictures.
The first few pictures were from the front side of the building. There was no way in and the road ended in bushes. So I decided to try at the back.
The same story here. Shut windows and bushes.
Even the doors were shut although somebody has tried to punch a hole in that one.
It seemed, that the only way in was here. I am not young, flexible or super thin anymore, but I did try to make the squeeze.
Success.
The last signs of the commynity centre era.
A small room with a small stage. Perhaps this is where local bands have made their first gigs.
This rather blurry photo is here to demonstrate the layout of the area I was in. The entrance is where there is light. The room with the stage is behind me on the right. The windows on the left are not windows outside, but to a rather small and long room.
And the room is here. I had a lot of difficulties with this location. I had to photograph almost blindfolded and could only see the narrow area revealed by my headlamp. I’m trying to reconstruct the layout to you with the help of these pictures, but the building was very inconsistent and quite a maze.
A very small kitchen along a corridor.
And the corridor. A constantly recurring, but highly unusual feature of the building were these windows inside.
A room with plastic baskets and puzzles.
The corridor was the only way to navigate through the downstairs of the building, yet it ran through several auxiliary spaces like this one.
The corridor led to another large room.
And that was the second fridge by the corridor.
The room seen from the other direction. The fridge can also be seen.
Like I’ve said many times, the layout of this building was highly unusual. This room was directly behind the previous room.
And so I’ve reached the far end of the building.
Looking back towards the large room with the piano.
And further back towards the small corridor with the first kitchen I found.
There’s still a second floor to be explored.