Children Art Laboratory

ART SPACE = URBAN SPACE
Firstly, the building is laid out a part of an urban network of routes and “sees itself” as a space for movement given solid form in an overall context. This context is also articulated in the general urban system by means of numerous smaller interventions (see landscape planning). The commitment to an open ground floor zone evokes the motif of the building as path and here one could be inclined to see a switching point in the city’s circulation network. In this way the KiKuLa becomes an important connecting point and enhances the little-used park by making it an important point of contact and junction. The building is therefore a link between outdoor space and interior space and, essentially, between the internal functions.

ART SPACE = HABITAT
An awareness of the extent to which outdoor space is an important requirement for a successful life, leads to the idea that KiKuLa can also have an anthropological component in designing the world. In a kind of playful approach, a creative overall structure can be developed that both allows and strengthens different perceptions and developments and, through the interaction of the various functions, produces new, diverse experiences of the world. Here, too, the transitory character, positioned between everyday occurrences and the experience of art, plays an important role in the layout of the program within the building. Stretched out like triangular piece of cloth, the building depicts the categories of play, art and experiment and therefore appeals to the different practices of human existence.

Garden spaces

The configuration of the building defines three garden spaces, which have a different direction, and through the careful positioning of the building volumes allows most of the existing trees to be preserved and protected. A series of newly planted trees augment the picture. The ground cover is made of materials that allow water to infiltrate, e.g., rubber granulate, can be coloured, are with or without a fall protection function, and have water-bound surfaces. The play facilities are developed throughout as a contextual, scenic game, where it is not the individual playground equipment but the landscape narrative that forms the frame.