Contextual architecture: Kildemosen childcare institution in Kolding
Kildemosen is a new, large childcare institution which harmonises well with the surrounding residential area. In fact, it is designed to blend in physically and culturally with the existing environment in response to the municipality’s desire for sustainability.
Divided into four children’s clusters and a staff building, Kildemosen consists of a number of staggered houses with double-pitched roofs. The firm of architects Pluskontoret Arkitekter has structured the built-up area into smaller units in a way that is carefully tailored to the scale of the neighbourhood and the pedagogical principle of small worlds from which the children gradually grow up.
The Municipality of Kolding wished to work in a targeted manner with sustainability, which has, in fact, resulted in Kildemosen receiving an honourable mention in connection with World Architecture Day 2020.
On the site were formerly barracks buildings, whose bricks have been reused to build the new buildings. Kildemosen’s petrol blue windows also represent the direct ‘reuse’ of the site’s cultural history. Reusability can play a role on many levels, providing a highly contextual identity in addition to limiting resource consumption.
Abundant natural light
The clusters are connected in pairs and share an intervening cloakroom building with a flat roof, which thus accentuates the clusters’ double-pitched roofs. The roof shape means that the group rooms have high vaulted ceilings, allowing for skylights both in the group rooms and in the communal area.
Throughout, the ceilings are clad with Troldtekt acoustic panels to ensure superior acoustics as well as strong visual coherence between the rooms across functions and clusters. Troldtekt is a sustainable material in that it is made from certified wood from Danish forests and cement extracted from Danish mineral resources.
Kildemosen’s clusters are designed so that the group rooms are oriented either towards the ‘front garden’ or towards the ‘backyard’, while the staggered cluster buildings create appealing spaces in the transition between outside and inside.
