1. Prize | Day Care Centre Ernst Fahlbusch
Göttingen
In collaboration with pape+pape Architekten
With the new building of the day care centre, another educational and social facility is integrated into the existing urban situation of the city. A spacious forecourt including parking spaces forms the entrance area and offers enough space for daily exchange among parents or for events of the KITA. Various climbing and balancing facilities, a covered sand playground and other play and retreat facilities create a sensory stimulating play experience for all age groups. A separate movement area for the crèche contains further play and learning elements for toddlers. The outdoor space is complemented by beds for all children to sow and harvest their own crops. The generously planned terrace also offers the opportunity to taste delicious fruits and herbs from the snack garden.
Large contiguous green spaces, green roofs and terraces throughout, and a few paved areas create an overall concept that is close to nature and blends sensitively into the existing green space. Offsets in the cubature of the building figure and the resulting interior layout create clear allocations and zoning in the open space:
A spacious forecourt, which integrates the turning loop including parking spaces into the design, leaves plenty of space for daily exchange among parents and offers an ideal place for occasional KITA events. A linear play sculpture (which also integrates the wood workshop and the tool shed, among other things) offers a play experience that stimulates all the senses for all age groups, from various climbing and balancing opportunities, a covered sand playground to retreat and cuddle boxes. At the same time, the movement areas of the KIGA and KRIPPE are spatially separated as a matter of course. The outdoor area for the CRIPPER groups can be separated from the rest of the play area by low wooden gates if necessary and will have its own sandbox with deck and playhouse and a small grassy hill with a toddler slide. Enough space remains that further play facilities could be arranged. Beds for sowing and harvesting are provided for both age groups. The terrace at the dining area is embedded in a snack garden with a rich offer of delicious fruits and herbs and screened from the rest of the grounds by low fruit hedges. In the rest of the grounds, too, the shrub borders are enriched with strawberries, blueberries and mint; all shrubs and trees are fruiting and/or suppliers of craft materials such as nut and fruit trees or chestnuts. The green corridor running in a north-south direction with trees worth preserving is completely preserved.
