Client: Gemeinde Wittendörp – Amt Wittenburg
Design team: Rimpel Leifels (architects), Proksch Ingenieure (services), Ingenieurbüro Dr. Apitz (structure), Lysann Schmidt in collaboration with Adolphi Rose (landscape architects)
My role: project manager (LP 1-4)
Location: Boddin-Wittendörp, Germany
Date: 2018-2021
Surface: 2900 m²
Budget: 325.000 € incl. VAT
The outdoor facilities of the new day care center comprise two areas: the kita garden and the public entrance area with parking spaces. The outdoor layout was developed in close collaboration with the architect but also with the Kita management and the parents of the children. By locating the building in the northwest corner of the property, the Kitagarten could be very generously dimensioned and aligned to the east and south. Due to this positioning the open spaces are well-lit at all times of the day and protected from the street by the building.
Both the existing and new play areas such as the toddler play house or the climbing island form circular islands with large kerbstones that become bench-like edges. Due to the circular shape, each element receives its necessary fall protection without adopting a specific direction. The formal language of the outdoor facilities is restrained and coherent. The circles thus irregularly arranged in the surface are a recurring element in the open space and are also used for the arrangement of the skylights and lighting elements in the building.
With the enclosed kindergarten, an inclusive open space with barrier-free access was created that is a place of well-being for all children and staff and offers the best conditions for growing and learning. After analysing the existing situation in cooperation with the kindergarten management, architects and parents, some of the equipment elements such as the carousel, basket swing, construction wagon and the former coal store were retained. The so-called “industrial sculpture” was converted into a covered play area to enable “outdoor play” even in bad weather. A herb garden, a climbing island for the older children, a toddler play area, as well as a slide hill and a mud play area complete the new outdoor facilities of the KITA Katz und Maus.