For nearly 50 years, Diakoniewerk Essen has operated a daycare center in the Frillendorf neighborhood. The aging facility has now been replaced with a modern new building on the same site, which opened in 2022. The two-story "Kleine Quelle" daycare accommodates four groups, including a new program for children under three. Böll Architekten designed the building to create a protective barrier toward the street while opening generously toward the garden. Along Frillendorfer Straße, the street-facing brick facades serve as sound insulation, establishing a sheltered outdoor zone. To unify the large windows of the group rooms with the smaller sanitary windows, the facade features relief panels with recessed brick courses. The main entrance is slightly recessed, eliminating the need for a canopy. The garden-facing facade transitions to wood, fronted by an elegant steel structure that functions as an emergency balcony. Kept intentionally transparent, it provides summer sun protection while allowing the low winter sun to penetrate the space through fixed louvers.

Inside, the facility offers 715 m² of fully accessible space across two elevator-serviced floors. Child-scaled group rooms open onto generous play corridors where exploration, climbing, swinging, and active play happen naturally. The exercise room extends these possibilities further. Floor-to-ceiling windows flood the interiors with daylight, amplified by skylights above the stairwell. The color palette—subtle whites and soft grays—creates a calm backdrop that makes the vibrant greens leading to the group rooms truly shine. This green carries through to the wall tiles in the sanitary areas. Acoustic ceilings in every room keep sound levels manageable, while radiant floor heating adds comfort for the youngest learners.

The 1,000 m² outdoor landscape embraces the site's steep slope as a design asset. Lower paved zones give way to a dynamic play slope with three distinct levels offering varied experiences: a wheeled-vehicle zone, sand and mud play, a vegetated slope with slide, multiple climbing paths, and a circular seating amphitheater. At the highest point, mature trees and open green space complete the landscape.

www.boellarchitekten.de

Photography Credits:

Thomas Mayer
www.thomas-mayer-photo.de

(Published in CUBE Ruhrgebiet 03|22)