Good acoustics for Little Firecrackers

Since May 2017, the House Eleven nursery to the north of the German city of Kiel has been offering ample space for playing, frolicking and exploring for 64 children in total, ranging in age from six months to reception. The nursery is located in the newly developed residential area of Anscharpark in Wik, which features a mix of historical buildings, new builds and old parkland - a mere stone’s throw away from the shores of the Kiel Fjord.

The focus of the nursery, which is operated by the Association For Child, Youth and Social Assistance (KSJH), is on an aesthetic education, activity and explorative learning. To be able to optimally support the children’s development, House Eleven has a central activity room, a room for role playing, an art studio, an educational workshop, a nest room for the little ones and a children’s café, where the boys and girls can prepare and eat meals together with their teachers - all across a 620 m2 site.

All the windows in the modern, light-filled, new building are floor-to-ceiling, so even the smallest ones can look out. The charcoal grey window frames form an attractive contrast with the light coloured walls and the wooden floors in the spacious rooms. Low cupboards offer opportunities for the children to pull themselves up or to play on, while the space underneath can serve as storage. Small platforms, partly separated by partition walls with spy holes, open up new perspectives inside the spaces. All shelves are plain and open and emphasise a sense of unlimited opportunities for exploration.

Black Troldtekt ceiling panels, forming a strongly contrasting backdrop for the light system, are a distinctive design feature. The ceiling panels ideally absorb the unavoidable noise levels of the frolicking little firecrackers and provide optimal fire protection for House Eleven.

Troldtekt acoustic panels are made from the natural material wood, and cement extracted from Danish mineral resources. Wood is an organic and flammable material, but every single wood fibre in a Troldtekt panel is encapsulated and protected by non-flammable cement. Troldtekt panels therefore have low flammability and only emit low heat during a fire, and almost no smoke.