When most people imagine a children's home, they envision a vibrant, colorful building. The new Klopferle Children's Center in Sachsenheim, Baden-Württemberg, challenges this expectation. Here, architects created a deliberately understated structure in soft grey—a backdrop that lets the children's own colorful toys, art, and personalities take center stage.

The new facility was built on a site that essentially filled a gap in the neighborhood. With children's centers already flanking both sides of the property, the design challenge was clear: create a building that would serve as a unifying link while complementing the emerging "kindergarten mile." Yet it needed its own distinct identity. Additional constraints shaped the design: the building's form and placement had to maximize natural light and create a welcoming outdoor environment suited to the site's conditions.

The architects at noma architekten responded with a single-story, L-shaped structure that wraps protectively around a central outdoor play area—creating an intimate courtyard experience. Expansive windows blur the boundary between interior and exterior, flooding the rooms with daylight throughout. Every group room and multipurpose space opens onto a covered terrace, ensuring children can play outside even on rainy days. The arcade-like design provides flexible shading and creates distinct zones within the outdoor space—essentially an additional "room" in the open air. Playful staff lines painted across the ground serve as racing tracks, subtly nodding to the center's focus on music and creative expression.

www.noma-architekten.de

Photography Credits:

Markus Guhl
www.architekturfotograf-markus-guhl.com

(Published in CUBE Stuttgart 02|23)