Since December 2013, 65 deaf and hearing children have been cared for at the daycare center Sinneswandel in Berlin Charlottenburg. The availability of the 750 m² Helen Keller School made it possible that the vision of this bilingual, integrative kindergarten became a reality. Over a total of 14 months of designing, planning, remodeling and setting up, the three-story kindergarten was designed with love and inspiration to meet the special needs of deaf people.
Client — Sinneswandel gGmbH
Size — 750 sqm for 65 children
Services — LPH 1-8, fire protection, funding application
Completion — 12/2013
Location — Berlin
In collaboration with the Perelà studio, baukind developed the design concept for a route guidance system based on the symbol of a tree, for the different development stages. Each of the three floors of the building represents an element of a tree. To match this, six animal characters, each with an assigned color palette, represent the different age groups. The ground floor symbolizes the root of the tree with its earthy, warm-red and violet tones. The group rooms are named after the earth-bound animals, the worm and rabbit. They are the animal chosen to represent the day care children who still need particularly close and protective care.
The first floor is decorated with warm yellow and orange tones and symbolizes the tree trunk, which is still connected to the earth. The wall painting of the fox in the play area becomes a part of platform where the children can hang out, rest, build and play with mobile foam elements. On the second floor, fresh green and turquoise tones dominate the room to create the fluffy crown of the tree. The image of the owl and the squirrel is assigned to the two group rooms. Here the older children can play and learn in inspiring surroundings.
FLOORPLAN
