The new state gymnasium and sports hall of Rae municipality are located in the middle of the beautiful nature of the region and create versatile opportunities for spending time for students of all ages and residents of the region.
The school building can be easily accessed from any weather, taking into account pedestrian traffic, light traffic roads and the planned bus stop. Cars and parking have been moved behind the sports building. This creates a safe pedestrian and bike-friendly environment for the school.
Warm tones and symbiosis with nature are important in the visual image. In this way, a lot of wood has been used, and attention has also been paid to landscaping.
The heart of the school building is the staircase, which forms a hall where students can gather for events. The staircase ends with the library located on the second floor, under which there is an auditorium, which receives natural light through the library's skylights. The building opens to the southern courtyard, which brings all the school's students together in warm weather.
With a clever layout, several opportunities for sports pastime have been placed in the courtyard. Using the insides of the noise wall and the roof of the bicycle parking lot, the courtyard features climbing walls, an adventure trail, an outdoor gym and a basketball court. In addition, ideal opportunities have been created for outdoor education.
Playfulness and simplicity meet in architecture and constructive solutions.
All major common areas - hall, dining room, main entrance and cloakroom are located on the first floor. The layout of the rest of the rooms on the first and second floors is uniform, allowing the use of load-bearing walls.
In the case of the school building, it is worth noting separately the plane that extends to the south, as well as the canopy that protects against direct sun, the construction of which uses a steel truss. In the sports building as well, all rooms except the stands have been brought to the first floor, creating a single, low building volume. The simplicity and layout of the buildings also helps to save energy. The school building has no windows facing directly south, and the proportion of all windows in the outer walls is ~40%, which is in line with the principles of energy-efficient construction.
Also, the green roof of the low sports building makes it possible to reduce cooling costs in summer and keep heat costs under control in winter. Both the construction of the school building and the sports building will enable the installation of energy-efficient solar panels in the future.
Photos: Tõnu Tunnel, Tiit Veermäe