Kinderdagverblijf Speelpleinstraat
The Speelpleinstraat project by 51N4E is located at the point where Merksem’s parks – the Runcvoort and the Hof van Roosendael parks, the municipal park and the cemetery – converge. Each of these parks is a collage of separate entities, traversed by paths and roads and enclosed by railings. The result is a serious loss of identity and quality. Speelpleinstraat is one of the roads that cut straight through the greenery.
There were two separate claims on the site: for the construction of a depot for the city’s parks and gardens department and for the building of a children’s day-care centre. On the recommendation of the municipal architect, the project definition raised the question of a collective solution that would combine the two functions within a single building. The architects at 51N4E raised the stakes even higher. They transformed the assignment into the first step towards renewal on the scale of the entire cluster of parks. 51N4E designed a circular pavilion with no distinction between front and back. It is, rather, a pivotal point that links the surrounding parks to each other and fuses the patchwork of parks into a single entity. The composition of the complex is rational and makes efficient use of the space. Circulation routes in the day-care centre run around the internal playground. A large, pronounced canopy signals the location of the parks department depot to the outside world. The two parts of the programme – day-care centre and depot – are intimately linked. For example, the staff of the day-care centre and the parks department shares a dining and rest room, logistical areas and toilets. A large window in the playground overlooks the depot. By using different levels, the children are at the same eye-level as the parks department workers and are able to watch the goings on in a real-life ‘Bob the Builder’ workplace. Due to the difference in height, life in the day-care centre is played out on a stage that is viewed by the outside world. The rooms of the day-care centre have been given a spacious outdoor terrace, while the pavilion is open to the surroundings and thus enters into a relationship with the encircling parks. 51N4E’s project introduces cohesion into the fragmented setting of Merksem. The boundaries between the parks are blurred as a result of the universal openness of the pavilion.
Author: Katrien Embrechts and Esthe Jacobs. This building has been published in Architecture Review Flanders N°11. Embedded Architecture. This text has been provided by the architectural office.
