The Jyväskylä University campus is largely made up of the buildings designed by Alvar Aalto for the Jyväskylä College of Education, later the University of  Jyväskylä, in the 1950s. The layout, based on the winning competition proposal, is derived from the American campus principle. Originally, it consisted of buildings designed to serve both the teaching and administration of the College, including the main building and library, the teaching-practice school, the refectory and hall of residence, two gymnastics buildings, an indoor swimming pool built by the student union and subsequently extended several times, plus a residential building for staff and a boiler house. Aalto’s original scheme forms a crescent or ‘horseshoe’ around the sports ground.