The Kinder Kunst Labor presents itself with an innovative, high-quality architecture geared to the needs of children that clearly stands out from conventional museum construction.
With its striking form, the Kinder Kunst Labor acts as a landmark on the way from the old town to the cultural district. The building stands as a solitaire in the northwest corner of Altoona Park, which is specially designed and shared by the children and visitors to the Kinder Kunst Labor. The wooden structure lends lightness and openness to the building. The structure is participatory and communicative. The hierarchy-free flow of the spaces allows children to freely express their creativity. The pulse of the corpus: like a helix, a generous possibility space winds from the bottom to the top between the inner and outer facade layers - for tinkering, romping, working, and exhibiting. The spaces can be closed or opened to other areas - depending on need, desire, and mood. Art can thus be experienced by the children in a physical-sensory or concentrated way, or they can produce it themselves. The four-story building includes a café and foyer on the first floor, exhibition spaces and laboratories on the two floors above, offices and the library on the top floor. Artistic achievement and a children's advisory board have been involved in the Architect’s design process from the beginning. The laminated wood façade creates a unique mood of light and shadow and allows for exciting views and insights. The core is a concrete support structure encased in a layer of wood louvers. Inside, the steel and concrete components serve as design counterpoints to the warm wood ceilings, wood paneling and wood floors. The glazed areas are designed as a wood mullion-and-transom façade, each with louvers close together and farther apart, depending on the interior function.
Team:
Architects: Schenker Salvi Weber Architekten ZT GmbH
Project Team: Andres Schenker, Maximilian Dietz, Michael Salvi, Otto Bäuerle, Rostislav Stoklásek, Thomas Morgner, Thomas Weber, Tristan Hunt, Veronika Ševčíková
Structural Engineer: Werner Sobek AG
Project Management: FCP – Fritsch Chiari & Partner
Building Physics and Acoustic Consultant: Schöberl & Pöll Bauphysik
Services Engineer: BPS Engineering
Fire Safety Consultant: IMS Brandschutz
Electrical Services Engineer: BPS Engineering
Landscape Architecture: Landschaftsarchitekten und Stadtplaner
Visualisation: expressiv.at
