Blovstrød in Allerød Municipality will soon have a new children’s house designed by Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects. The combined nursery and kindergarten will be unusual in its use of mixed age groups and large home rooms instead of communal areas. This aims to provide more security for the children, reduce noise, and give educators a better overview.

For parents who drop off and pick up their children daily, the routine is familiar: arriving at a building where groups are divided by age, with play taking place in a large common room where traffic is high and it’s often hard to locate both child and educator.

When you enter Blovstrød’s new daycare, Bøgelunden, you’ll step into a smaller, calmer common area. The square metres are instead allocated to spacious home rooms where children of different ages spend time in familiar surroundings.

“We have politically prioritised ensuring that Allerød’s pedagogical principles – which include creating safe environments for children with opportunities for play, immersion, and varied activities – are upheld in the children’s house,” says Karsten Längerich, Mayor of Allerød Municipality, to Allerødnyt.

The layout is calmer because the children’s home room can accommodate a variety of activities for a smaller group, meaning they don’t have to cross the building to get from the soft play area to the music room.

“We mustn’t forget that they are small beings in enormous spaces. Instead of having to relate to an entire institution, they can find security in their home room. This, in turn, can much more easily accommodate play, immersion, music, and learning. When children experience a safe environment, it fosters curiosity to explore the world,” says Michael Schytt Poulsen, Associate Partner at Vilhelm Lauritzen Architects.

Flexible design is sustainable and future-proof

The daycare will be built as a flexible structure, with some internal walls that can be removed or relocated. Outside, the terrain has been shaped into a green play ramp, providing outdoor access from both the ground and first floors.

“The building must be adaptable, for example, to be used for early schooling if the number of young children falls while the number of school-aged children rises. That’s why there’s been close dialogue between future users and our construction team. This has resulted in a really good project that is now ready to be realised,” says Mayor Karsten Längerich.

Construction is expected to begin after the summer holidays and be completed in 2020. Bøgelunden is the second of two new children’s houses in Blovstrød. The first, Pilelunden, was inaugurated in March. Bøgelunden will accommodate a total of 150 nursery and kindergarten children.