de vylder vinck taillieu . photos: © Filip Dujardin
A daycare centre next to a church. A daycare with a cadence of roofs not unfamiliar to the cadence of the roofs of the side aisles of the church. Simultaneously a scale not unlike the scale of a house. Because daycare is also the second house. And the street between church and daycare as a place to play. Covered by a conservatory. In this case, it has to be.
A daycare centre in Ukkel
A simple composition of houses, no more and no less. Small houses next to a church.
The church has a pitched roof. And pitched dormers. Strict and precise.
One after the other, each the same as the next.
The roof of the daycare centre has pitched roofs too. To find a rhythm.
The same rhythm as the church. While finding its own, as well.
The rooms of the house are the construction itself.
The materials of the rooms are no other than what is necessary to construct the house.
White, bevelled, load-bearing bricks. The white of the material as well as the white of the paint.
Grey, concrete porticos. Columns and beams carry the building,
in dimensions which are no more and no less than what they should be.
Concrete walls strengthen the outer walls, with concrete blocks as lost formwork.
But walls of wood, as well. Becoming ceilings of wood.
Patchwork tiles and herringbone parquet.
And suddenly, everything that seemed rough becomes soft.
Between the houses and the church, a playground stretches out.
A narrow playground, partly covered in the middle.
A greenhouse that allows for an outdoor space when outdoor space is no longer expected.
The first sun. The last sun.
The snow outside and the grass inside.
And always the light.
As long, stretched-out playground, a playstreet.
A daycare centre is a collection of houses. A daycare centre as a home.
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