“Freispiel” – Kindergarten V Guntramsdorf \ g.o.y.a. architects

g.o.y.a. architects just finished a Kindergarten in Lower Austria, "Freispiel" – Kindergarten V Guntramsdorf.

The kindergarten is located in a grove of striking chestnut trees. Its rustic design celebrates a sense of open space and connection with its lovely environment.

To meet the various needs of the children, the building is organised as a series of structures, each connected visually with the trees. Classrooms are organised around a hallway which gives onto a foyer affording floor to ceiling panoramic views of the encircling chestnuts.

Both classrooms and activity area branch out from the foyer which, clad in larchwood, maintains continuity with the exterior of the building.

The multi-purpose foyer is accessible to the classrooms and the gymnasium. This enables classes to be conducted discretely so that different kinds of activity can take place simultaneously.

For special occasions, however, the flexible dividing wall between the gymnasium and the foyer can be opened to provide a large events room.

The kindergarten's interior harmonises with the environment by being clad in larchwood. Load bearing walls of spruce cross-laminated timber are faced with triple layered spruce panels finished with a bright white varnish.

Each classroom has a large panoramic window looking onto the chestnut trees. Windows are set at child's-eye level with ample lower sills doubling as benches.

Unlike these airy classrooms, the gallery, lit by a skylight through which the tops of trees can be glimpsed, offers a more intimate experience.

Exterior

If the upright trunks of the old trees suggest strength and perseverance, these characteristics are expressed in the language of the building with its preponderance of wood. Footbridges and terraces link the classrooms, imparting a sense of well-being.

Three themed play areas cluster about a garden: Balance and Equilibrium, Calm and Nature, and Sand and Water.

Technology

Conceived as a low-energy building, the school is heated in winter, cooled in summer, by a ground water heat pump feeding under floor piping. CO2 concentration controlled ventilation ensures optimum air quality.

+ Project credits / data

Architects: g.o.y.a. ZT Ges.m.b.H.

Location: Marktgemeinde Guntramdorf, Rathausplatz 1, A-2353 Guntramsdorf

Project Leader: Paul JE Preiss

General planner: ARGE KS + g.o.y.a.

Site Area: 3.644 sqm

Project Area: 730 sqm

Project year: 2009 – 2010

Photographs: Kurt Hörbst, Apfoltern 4, A-4261 Rainbach (OÖ), www.hoerbst.com

Program: Education

+ All images and drawings courtesy g.o.y.a. architects | Photo by Kurt Hörbst

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Madkulturhus \ Deve architects

The Madkulturhus, is a project involving the creation of a new venue in Stege to celebrate the culture of food. The client for this project recently acquired the former town hall, and is restoring the building according to strict historical preservation guidelines in order to open a restaurant. Behind this soon-to-be restored building, is the old city jail and a walled courtyard. Our task was to design the restaurant's new restroom facilities and a cafe serving station within the courtyard. Also, because the back buildings are not protected monuments, the jailhouse can be converted into the main kitchen, offices, and a private area that could host cooking classes, dinners, exhibitions, parties, and other food related events.

The jailhouse is a two storey brick building with the old cells on the upper level. Most of the building will be hollowed out to accomodate the new kitchen at the bottom level and new circulation, but the cells in the upper level will remain as office space. The new interior surfaces extend past the existing roofplane, and create a completely new building, containing the restrooms and the cafe serving station, is placed between the city hall and the jail. This allows restaurant patrons easy access from both the courtyard and the main dining area, but it also creates a direct link between the kitchen in the former jailhouse and the city hall building.

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UNISON \ Squire & Partners

Squire and Partners has designed a new office-led landmark headquarters, mixed use scheme for UNISON, the UK's second largest trade union, representing 1.3 million employees of public services. The site encompasses an entire city block bounded by Euston Road, Church- way and Grafton Place, and upon which stood the grade two-listed buildings of the former Elizabeth Garrett Anderson Women's Hospital.

Squire and Partners came up with the concept of a warm hub, a 'village square,' rather than an individual building to suit UNISON's requirements, which include the provision of TV and radio studios, press rooms, conference facilities, catering facilities and a large council debating chamber, as well as private and affordable residential accommodation. The scheme unites a disparate 'campus' of buildings, integrating new and old and providing a strong architectural presence on Euston Road.

The architectural language of the building was designed to be iconographical. It was decided that 'strength through unity' would be portrayed through architecture's oldest and most powerful symbol of teamwork – the column. The columns of UNISON are varied in their widths, and located irregularly across the façade. This varied pattern of individual members was also designed to sit flush within a complete frame. The result is both fluid and ordered. The 'heart' of the scheme is an open atrium, surrounded by the major public spaces of the complex. These include fully-glazed cafés and restaurants allowing clear views in and out, making the atrium open and welcoming, and visible from the street.

Atrium

The design of the atrium roof is fundamental to the success of the project in its ability to unite and unify the many different elements of the scheme around the central space. While a glass roof was a logical way to unite the disparate building heights surrounding the central atrium, its construc- tion necessitated resolving the geometries of each separate roof-line – some historic, oth- ers new, all at different heights. The solution was first inspired by the double-helix structure of a single strand of DNA. A generic component model of a strand was generated and manipulated to link all the disparate parapet heights in the building. Even when the members of this complex, faceted three-dimensional shape were determined, every glass panel in its surface needed to be a unique size and shape.

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