Like a colourful construction kit: Company day care centre for children

Incorporating sustainable materials and purposeful use of colour, the new children's day care centre next to a green area in Beiersdorf's company grounds in Hamburg is capacious enough for seven groups of children. In reference to the company's history the design concept recalls an apothecary's cabinet, but in reality looks more like a giant toy construction kit. 

Architect: kadawittfeldarchitektur, Aachen
Location: Stresemannallee 103, 22529 Hamburg-Eimsbüttel, Germany

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

A two-storey multi-purpose room is the central element of the children's day care centre. Featuring a broad flight of oversized steps, the open indoor space fulfills various functions as a gathering, communication and play space for the children and teachers alike. For psychological reasons the colour green figures largely in this area and is intended to have a harmonizing effect on the little ones. Frames let into the outer walls differ in size, shape and colour to lend individuality to the group rooms on both floors.

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Ground floor plan: kadawittfeldarchitektur

Upper floor plan: kadawittfeldarchitektur

Utility rooms round off the premises on the ground floor, while the upper storey features a kitchen with adjacent dining room, a workroom, a preschool room and a meeting and break room.

The differently coloured aluminium sheet panel frames let into the eastern and western sides of the building are to support orientation and enable the children to identify with »their« part of the premises and their group. Visible both indoors and outdoors, the frames serve on the outside as niches in which the children can sit, hide, play or put to other uses. Doors and cloakroom elements colour-coded in line with the respective group rooms underscore the conceptual objectives of pedagogical concepts such as orientation and identification.

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Colourful elements like extra-large building blocks articulate the interior space and can be used as play apparatus by the children. The platforms and climbing cubes involved and elements integrated into them such as play kitchens are to stimulate the children's imagination and allow them to experience the day care centre from new angles. The light falling through the large window openings and the colour accents create a bright and welcoming setting in which to develop and grow. All rooms are also barrier-free for handicap accessibility. The children's day care centre is named for company head Oscar Troplowitz, who as far back as 1898 set up a room that female workers could use to nurse their babies and enabled them to return to work.

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

Photograph: Werner Huthmacher

In November 2014 the »Troplo-Kids« children's day care centre was awarded a DGNB Gold certificate by the German Sustainable Building Council, the second nursery school in Germany to gain this distinction. All building and interior materials were checked and documented and aspects such as sociocultural and functional quality were examined and appraised throughout the entire planning process.It is not least for this reason that a children's day care centre has come about that not only enables its small users to thrive and develop in a friendly atmosphere but also acts as a shining example in terms of sustainability.

Despite all technical requirements and the endeavour to outdo Germany's EnEV2009 energy saving ordinance, the architects have produced a well-conceived nursery school with a clear floor plan, special furnishings and differing colours for fostering playful creativity in each of the rooms. The overall concept is also expressed in the facades in which the frames are integrated. Resembling a super-sized construction set and resembling a form of furniture and signpost in one, they make the architecture interesting for the children and lend it to play.


Project data

Client: Beiersdorf AG
Project management: Arno Schleicher, Ben Beckers
Gross floor area: 1,750 m²
Net floor space: 1,440 m²
Usable space: 1,040 m²
Completion: January 2014
Period of certification: June-August 2014
Certification DGNB Gold: November 2014

Compact and mobile: Portable House ÁPH80

Spanish studio Ábaton Arquitectura have combined all the functions of comfortable living over a small space. This is no ordinary house, but rather the prefabricated, mobile Portable House, which can be placed anywhere at any time.

Architect: Ábaton Arquitectura, Madrid
Location: variable

Photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

With their ÁPH80 project, Ábaton Arquitectura have developed a series that enables flexible housing. This house, which can be transported by truck and positioned on almost any spot, meaning that a predetermined building lot is no longer required. Comprehensive research aided in defining the size of the individual rooms: in the end, an area of 9.0 x 3.0 metres was calculated. These measurements refer to the larger Portable House; smaller houses are planned to complement the series and are currently available only in a few designs.

The portable house, which comes equipped with a living room and integrated kitchen, a bedroom and bathroom, has room for two people.

Ground floor plan: Ábaton Arquitectura

The simple cubature of the house – a basic rectangle with a gable roof – recalls the well-known shape of a Monopoly house. Any association with shipping containers disappears at second glance. Only the two hooks on the apex of the roof, which serve to load the house onto a truck, preserve this impression.

Photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

Photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

The exterior walls are clad in rear-ventilated wood-concrete panels. These are completely closed on the back façade, a marked contrast to the front of the house, which opens up. Large expanses of glass which can be opened allow natural lighting into the living space and provide a view of the surrounding landscape. However, hinged elements mean that the outer façade layer can be closed as well.  The spaces to the left and right of the living room, which serve as bed and bathroom, are also lit by means of small windows which can be closed off with integrated shutters.

Photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

Inside the house, the visible wood surfaces of the ceiling, floor and walls, done in white-coloured fir, create a pleasant living atmosphere. The gable roof provides a room height measuring up to 3.5 metres. 

Living room, photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

View to kitchenette, photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

Sleeping room, photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

Bathroom, photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

Production time for this prefabricated house is 6 to 8 weeks. On-site assembly can be carried out within a day. The prices of the Portable House vary according to the specific design. At 42,800 euros, the ÁPH80 apartment is currently the costliest version, although costs rise as features are added.

The project, developed and manufactured entirely in Spain, fulfills all sustainability criteria set by the studio as a top priority for all its projects. The wood comes from regulated forests; like most of the materials used here, it can be recycled.

Photograph: Ábaton Arquitectura

Kirstenbosch: Paradisiacal walkway above the trees

Over the tree-tops it is calm – not only that, over the treetops of a South African botanical gardens spectacular aerial views are to be had.

Kirstenbosch in Cape Town, South Africa, was laid out in 1913 as a 36-hectare garden within a 528-hectare nature reserve that is a World Heritage Site today. A Centenary Tree Canopy Walkway – a boardwalk made of steel and wood that winds its way between the trees and high above them – has now been created to mark the garden’s 100th anniversary

And indeed it was the skeleton of a snake that inspired Mark Thomas Architects to the design, which went on to be executed last year in collaboration with Henry Fagan & Partners. The treetop structure is accordingly nicknamed the »boomslang« (tree snake).

Rising gently from its starting point, the walkway – 130 metres long and up to 12 metres high – provides visitors a stunning experience of nature without impacting on it unduly.

Source: MMM

Photographs: Adam Harrower

by editorial office Detail Daily on 04/16/2015

Pleated curtain: Addition to a day-care centre in Paris

Like a wafting curtain, the textile-based outer façade of an addition built onto a Paris day-care centre seems to float in the breeze. This building, set among a heterogeneous neighbourhood, has taken on an unmistakable character that sets an eye-catching accent.

Architect: h2o architectes, Paris
Location: 5 rue de l`Épée, 75005 Paris, France

Photograph: Julien Attard

The Epée de Bois day care in southwest Paris is located on the lower levels of an apartment house and has recently been renovated in order to improve its poor former condition. At the same time, the centre expanded with an addition that significantly enlarges the space for the 24 children and creates a new entryway in the narrow inner courtyard. 

Site map: h2o architectes

The addition has not only created new interior space, but also a generous rooftop terrace which serves as an outside play area. While the ground floor is devoted to children up to the age of 18 months, the areas for children from 18 months to 3 years old is found on the upper level. Moreover, the ground floor features spaces for the kitchen and utility room.

Photograph: Julien Attard

Ground floor plan: h2o architectes

Upper floor plan: h2o architectes

The trademark of this design is the translucent white fabric that has been stretched over a steel supporting structure and surrounds the glass façade in the upper area. This fan-like construction elegantly covers the attic and shields the rooftop terrace from observation. Like a curtain wafting in the wind, the textile cover extends to both entrances and creates a sheltering canopy. With this clever design, the architects have combined aesthetics with function in a most attractive way.

Photograph: Julien Attard

Diagram: h2o architectes

Photograph: Julien Attard

Scetion: h2o architectes

Photograph: Julien Attard

Photograph: Julien Attard

Diagram: h2o architectes

Project data

Client: Municipality of Paris
Team: h2o, Paris, Charlotte Hubert, Jean-Jacques Hubert, Antonie Santiard
Structural engineering: ID+
Costs: Euro 1.5 million