Page 83 - AIT0525_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design Ecker Architekten, Heidelberg
Bauherr • Client Kath. Kirchengemeinde St. Kilian
Standort • Location Massenbachhausen
Nutzfläche • Floor space 1420 m 2
Fotos • Photos Brigida González, Stuttgart
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 126

DAY-CARE CENTRE

IN MASSENBACHHAUSEN

For the new Catholic day-care centre, the team at ecker
architekten designed a timber construction that not only
includes childcare rooms and interior-design details that
are suitable for everyday use, but also incorporates litur-
gical themes through an unusual, fresh colour scheme.
Natural materials and generously inserted skylights as
well as window fronts produce a bright spatial structure.

I n order to expand the original four groups of the St Kilian day-
care centre to six groups and ultimately to bring them all together
under just one roof, ecker architekten were commissioned in 2021 as
the winners of the competition that had been organized by the muni-
cipality for a new building. At the centre of the T-shaped timber floor
plan is a multifunctional foyer that adjoins the main entrance and
provides access to three corridors which lead to the group rooms, the
kitchen and also the staff rooms. The design and function of the mul-
tifunctional room is determined by its triangular box girders, which
span nine metres of room depth and, at the same time, with two inte-
grated guide rails, enable the large area to be divided into three small
rooms using mobile wall panels. This makes it easy, for example, to
separate the dining area, including the children’s kitchen, from the
free play- and sports areas. The colour scheme of the room and of
the entire day-care centre is derived from the institution’s namesake,
Saint Kilian. The planners based their choice of the colours green,
gold (or yellow in this case), and red on a preserved illustrated copy
of the Alsatian Legenda aurea from 1419, which depicts the itinerant
preacher Saint Kilian in precisely these liturgically and symbolically
chosen colours. They represent renewal, purity and charity. This triad
of colours is used sparingly in addition to wooden surfaces and sha-
des of grey: green is used on the walls in the foyer and in the group
Grundriss • Floor plan units, as well as on the cloakroom furniture. Elements that stand for
action and movement, such as the children’s kitchen, the floors of
the access areas and the foyer partition walls, shine in yellow, while
seating furniture and additional coat racks set red accents. Rooms
dedicated to learning and social interaction were kept as neutral as
possible by contrast, and are brought to life by the natural surface
qualities of wood, aluminium and glass on the one hand, and the
generous window openings with a view of nature on the other. Dis-
creetly coloured acoustic elements placed on wall segments and cei-
Schnitt • Section lings ensure room comfort.

AIT 5.2025 • 083