Based on a comprehensive review, the Kuusamo City Council decided in December 2018 to build a new primary school in Nilonkangas. The city selected Kontio as the supplier of the school’s log wall structures.

At Nilonkangas School, children from grades 1 to 6 attend classes. The school also has facilities for three preschool groups. There are 291 primary school students and 48 preschool children. The school employs a staff of 40. It is located in the urban area of Kuusamo, in the Nilon school district, surrounded by nature. From the schoolyard, there is a view over Kuusamo’s marshland and forest landscape. Exercise trails and sports facilities are located nearby and are available for student use.

Construction of the new school began in spring 2021. Log installation started in February 2022 and took approximately four months. Students and staff moved into the new school in April 2023, and the entire school area, including the schoolyard, was completed by late autumn 2023.

The school’s spaces are organized into age-specific learning environments arranged around a central two-story communal area. This central space serves as the school's dining hall as well as a learning and presentation area. The learning environments form individual building units that are connected via the central atrium and second-floor bridges.

The building’s structural frame consists of reinforced concrete columns and slabs, as well as steel beams. The exterior walls of the school and gymnasium buildings, as well as the interior walls facing the central space, are built using Kontio’s settlement-free SmartLog logs. A total of approximately 12 kilometers of logs were used in the construction.

Nilonkangas School

• Completed in Kuusamo in autumn 2023

• 291 primary school pupils and 48 preschool children

• Exterior and interior walls made of settlement-free SmartLog logs