Berlin architects were interested in a wide range of shades in the RAKO OBJECT tiles
Bright and rich shades of green, yellow, and blue make easier orientation for children at the new "Drachenreiter" kindergarten on Alexander's square in Berlin. Green and yellow colours are intended for older children, the blue colour is a "cot" for children from the age of 1 to 2.5 years. Unlike other kindergartens, children in this kindergarten are not divided into groups, like they would usually be, but they can choose their places according to their hobbies, interests, and levels of development. The colour concept of the traditional Czech brand RAKO OBJECT “Colour One” tiles begins at the entrance and continues through the corridors and day rooms up to the social facilities.
This new kindergarten was constructed on the first floor of new a eleven-story building in Wadzeckstraße 3, near Alexander's Square, in Berlin. Approximately 100 children and 20 school workers have available approximately 1,000 m2 of area. This is the second facility for children opened by Drachenreiter gemeinnützige GmbH in Berlin in April 2016. Both the architectural concept and approach of school workers reflect the individual needs of children from the age of 1 to 6 years, involving healthy children, disabled children, children of different nationalities, and social classes.
Designers from the “Arge KnowspaceThinkbuild” studio, Jason Danziger and Prof. Erhard An-He Kinzelbach, created favourable optimal space allowances for children, where colours have their clear meanings at first sight. Intensive shades stand out, particularly in the facilities. One yellow, one green, and one blue bathroom were built and tiled with single-colour tiles with a modular size of 20 x 40 cm from the RAKO OBJECT "Colour One” programme. "The great variety of colours and reliability of colour solutions were very important for me," says Jason Danziger, and continues: "In the design phase, we could choose from an inexhaustible number of various options, and, on the basis of samples, I always knew what the outcome was going to be.”
The walls and floors in the bathrooms and the kitchen of the new Berlin kindergarten were tiled with ceramic tiles from the RAKO OBJECT programme. Approximately 150 m2 of tiles in dark yellow, green, and blue colours were laid in three bathrooms. On the floors, white tiles with a size of 10 x 10 cm from the Colour Two series (anti-slip R10/B) were used, along with the relevant cove skirting. In the kitchen, the Taurus Industrial series tiles with appropriate anti-slip surfaces (20 x 20 cm, R12 V4) were used.
Not only colour ideas were projected in designs from KnowspaceThinkbuild studio designers. The "From Big to Small” motto was at the origin of this project. In other words, from overall appearance of the rooms to design of furniture - almost everything was individually custom-made, and almost everything is multifunctional too. "For instance, the chairs designed by us can be easily set to 3 different heights by simply turning them,” explains Prof. Kinzelbach. "The tables of trapezoidal shapes can be flexibly arranged into circles, rows, or squares.” Wide window niches just invite children to climb into them, and the benches can also be arranged in different ways. Just like Kneip´s small pool, the custom-made "table with a little fountain" in the bathrooms areas are not intended only to look at, but also for joyful experience from the water. Thanks to the specially designed water cascades from sanitary ceramics, children can also enjoy the water.
Hexagonal-shaped windows are actually peep-holes
The open space concept was particularly important for the designers. The hexagonal-shaped windows between the rooms and the corridors are highly noticeable. These windows act as oversized "peep-holes", enabling communication and view between the individual places of the space. An asymmetric hexagon, as a repeating symbol, can be found in many places of the kindergarten: both as a colour decoration of window surfaces and in the form of an outdoor sand-pit.
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