Kita and school Rendsburger Platz Play, learn and move

Outdoor space design for the daycare center and the comprehensive school at Rendsburger Platz in Cologne-Mülheim.

The educational facilities at Rendsburger Platz are located in the direct vicinity of the Stadtgarten Mühlheim. The old tree population extends into the school and daycare center grounds and forms a green backdrop.

In reference to the many nationalities that characterize this district and the children and young people, a common world plane with latitudes from the North to the South Pole is laid over the area: Uniform materials are used in the outdoor areas of the various facilities. The latitudes are marked by coloured lettering, materiality or hedge bands growing freely. A curved play band connects the school and the day-care centre. The functional areas lie like continents on the "world map" as islands in the room. The islands are places of play or rest, fields of experimentation, theatre stages. Old and new architecture provide enough space to create different functional areas: An open and representative entrée designs the entrance area. The stage formulates the prelude of different themes such as a tree-covered green classroom and an enchanted, overgrown student garden.

The five group rooms of the daycare center are assigned their own terraces. Adjacent to the terraces is the generous open space with sand and water play, "racecourse" and lawn or meadow areas. The planted areas are divided into intensively and extensively used and maintained areas.

In order to integrate the new buildings harmoniously into the overall complex, the open spaces near the buildings are designed with lawns and connected to the existing network of paths with water-bound surfaces.