Childcare center – holbæk

OWNER Holbæk Municipality
ARCHITECT Lone Backs Architects, Friis & Moltke Architects
ENGINEER Viggo Madsen A/S, JL Engineering
CONTRACTOR JJ Tømrer & Snedker A/S
STATUS Competition

The studio has participated in pre-qualification for a new children’s center in Holbæk city in collaboration with a great team.

A fun and safe place to be a kid

Our ambition with the new kindergarten in Holbæk is to create an institution that is closely connected to both the city’s and nature’s distinctive features and that reflects the creativity that characterizes Holbæk. The children’s house will be a place where play and experience are linked to the cultural elements that characterize the city, such as the shipyard, Munkholm Bridge and the Orø ferry. The familiarity that the children encounter in their everyday lives has been integrated as an important factor in the design of the outdoor areas. Here, the maritime and city gardens are based on the institution’s overall strategy for the outdoor areas. The maritime theme is reflected in the scale of the building, which naturally leads down to the smaller scale of the city garden, which forms a gentle outer boundary for the institution. The outdoor areas are designed to create dynamic and vibrant planting that invites interaction at eye level with the surrounding buildings.

The goal of the institution is for the new children’s center in Holbæk to be a fun and safe place for the children to be. We want to create a learning environment where children thrive and where they can fill their backpacks with good experiences and skills that promote their development. There must be room for immersion, movement and community, and nature must play a central role in the built environment. Like the open and light-filled landscape of the fjord, the motor challenges and communities are gathered in the center of the area, connected by bridges that wind around the fjord banks, sandbanks and islets. The various play elements are inspired by up and down – like the floors of the house and the first floor’s motor learning environment.

The city garden character creates a magical fairytale universe, where a self-trodden path between low multi-stemmed trees and bushes gives the feeling of a large forest, seen from children’s height. New surprises open up here, where children can play undisturbed or go on a picnic together. The character of nature changes with the seasons and small hill formations in the ground add to the sense of adventure. Along the way, the adventure magically unfolds – birdhouses appear in clearings, large toadstools mark a dangerous area, and the insect hotels become an exciting stop on the trail where children can examine the little things. In the summer, butterflies flutter in the wind and on a rainy day the area is full of life. The uncut grass supports the theme and creates a natural setting for play and discovery.

“The outdoor areas are judged to have a fine architectural quality and generally to be designed to be durable, usable and beautiful and support the functional parts of the project.” – judge’s comment from the decision