Noppa is providing premises for the Tuusula Museum and Cultural Services
Tuusula Museum and Cultural Services will move into the premises of the former Hyökkälä School in autumn 2026. The oldest part of the school was completed in 1954 and is a listed building. In the first phase, it will provide workspaces for museum and cultural staff, as well as suitable storage facilities for the municipality’s art and cultural history collections.
The building will henceforth be known as Noppa. The name was chosen partly because of the building’s shape; the side of the building facing the old sports hall resembles an equilateral box in appearance.
– ‘Noppa’ is an excellent name for a museum and cultural centre. As a term, it evokes the possibilities and element of surprise that cultural services offer through their diverse range of activities, explains Ulla Kinnunen, Director of Culture and Museums.
Art and cultural history collections to be brought together under one roof
The move is going to be a huge undertaking. The Tuusula Museum has extensive art and cultural history collections comprising over 70,000 catalogued items.
– Noppa will provide the museum with modern exhibition spaces. These will give us better opportunities to preserve and make the most of our shared and valuable cultural heritage, says Jaana Koskenranta, the museum’s curator.
At present, the collections are housed in seven different locations. Managing the collections and using them for exhibitions has required careful planning, not least because of the distances involved. The majority of the collections will be moved to the new premises. The Tuusula municipality’s art and storage collections will be provided with more functional and secure storage systems designed specifically for art. A staggering 430 metres of shelving is being installed for the cultural history materials.
Preparations for the move are already well under way, and this will affect the museum’s operations during 2026–27. The forthcoming exhibitions at Halosenniemi and Erkkola will run for longer periods and will feature paintings and illustrations from the museum’s various collections. Some of the works on display have rarely been shown before.
The move will also affect the museum’s information and lending services. During the spring and summer, services will operate on a limited basis and opening hours will be extended. When the actual relocation phase begins in August 2026, services will be suspended until further notice.
The renovation is progressing in stages
Initially, the long wing of the building, which was completed in 1954, will be renovated to house the museum’s and cultural services’ workspaces as well as the collection storage areas. The museum’s public engagement team will also gain a long-awaited museum education space, and the cultural services will have a multi-purpose hall seating around 60 people, where performances and lectures can be held. The first cultural events in the multi-purpose hall will take place as early as November.
In the future, the upper section of the former school building, which houses the sports hall among other facilities, will be renovated, and the plans envisage using the space for a wide range of performance and exhibition activities.
– When the school was completed, it housed not only classrooms but also an assembly hall and a gymnasium, as well as Tuusula’s first municipal library. The building was cleverly divided into classrooms for the school and a space open to local residents, where various activities could take place during school hours. The same idea is now being realised in its new use, says Ulla Kinnunen.
The newer section of Hyökkälä School, completed in 1980, is due to be demolished in the future. The building suffers from serious indoor air quality issues, and some of the premises have been off-limits for years. Zoning planning for the area is currently underway.
Further information
Ulla Kinnunen
This content has been translated using AI