Forty-nine modular skylights bring light into the lives of the children of Aarup, Denmark
The old Aarup Town Hall would not immediately spring to mind as the setting for a modern kindergarten. The extensive buildings spread out like large flat blocks in the landscape and are witness to a building style that owed more to occupying square metres than letting in light and air.
Today, these buildings are home to ’Drømmebakken’, Aarup’s new kindergarten, with 125 children in the kindergarten section and 25 in the day care nursery. Should one of the old town hall employees suddenly find themselves back in their old workplace, they would have difficulty recognising it. The buildings have been opened up in eleven places with the installation of no fewer than forty-nine modular skylights.
The result is a building that feels light, fresh and inviting, even on an overcast day – a building that invites to play.
An old building with particular challenges
Architect Birgit Rasmussen owns CASA Architects who were responsible for the planning of the new kindergarten. She explains how the solution came about during work on the old buildings. “The starting point was this old town hall with great depth to the building. It was really dark in the middle and there wasn’t much light for a building suitable for children.
We began with the usual systems, but then we discovered VELUX ModularSkylights and became aware that we could create low, light atriums and completely new contexts – we could create bright spaces in the middle of the building. Each atrium would house a specific function.