Kindergarten | Henner Herrmanns

The task is to supplement the municipal kindergarten in Vallendar by 450 square meters with two groups and adjoining rooms. The cultivation is to be erected on a narrow area next to the old building.

So far, the plot area served as a green area to the road. Due to the typological position it is necessary that the new building must be arranged vertically offset to the existing. The small building ground requires a two-storey building. The usable area on the roof, which is designed as a playground, creates a particularly efficient building structure both in the consideration of the areas, the functions as well as the costs.

Where as in the past the building costs were most important, the focus of the cultivation is also on a healthy development of the nursery, especially on the reduction of the physical workload of the nurses. In other words, special emphasis is placed on room acoustics, room climate, lighting, ergonomic equipment and general work organization.

At the ground plan, much emphasis was placed on clarity and generosity, and at the same time on compactness. The rooms are designed in such a way that child care even works with a tight staff. The cultivation and the existing building can be entered independently through separate entrances. Internally, they are connected by a corridor and staircase.

The compact design leads to a small cubature. On the ground floor there is the entrance which is large enough for parking the baby carriages and the spacious foyer. Since children nowadays spend not only on an hourly basis, but throughout the day in the day care center, a free space is essential. Children with their overbearing urge to move can not be confined all day in their group room. All the group and stay rooms have generous glazing to the outside and also to the hallway windows to allow interaction across the room boundaries. The daylight-flooded rooms offer the children and the staff a pleasant learning, play and work atmosphere.

Design HerrmannsArchitekten, Vallendar, Germany (Prof. Henner Herrmanns with Hung Nguyen)