Last week, the mayor of Frederiksberg, Denmark inaugurated a brand new kindergarten by Danish firm COBE that's unlike any kindergarten we've seen (and we've seen some pretty wild ones.) Though familiar in its exterior appearance—it's essentially a cluster of 11 simple monochrome gabled volumes—the 18,298-square-foot building proposes a rather unorthodox school experience, ditching a sprawling, institutional feel for a more intimate, village-like scale (an idea also explored in this fab Aussie house).
The gabled motif continues inside, where smaller house-like modules enclose kitchenettes, cradles, playrooms, and baby changing facilities, while house-shaped nooks create whimsical spaces of play surrounding the atriums. Additionally, the way the 11 "houses" are slightly offset from each other creates various-sized rooms and play areas both inside and out, and lets light through to the complex. Zooming out, this particular design also allows the kindergarten to bridge the part of the neighborhood occupied by dense apartment buildings with the part that contains smaller homes.
∙ Frederiksvej Kindergarten / COBE [ArchDaily]