A striking new children's house featuring innovative wooden facade design has opened in the picturesque Austrian village of Wolfurt, Vorarlberg. The Kinderhaus Brunnengasse, designed by renowned architectural firm bernardo bader architekten from Bregenz, began operations in September and serves six groups of children with its thoughtfully designed three-story structure.
The building presents itself as a compact cubic structure topped with a flat hipped roof covered in dark Eternit shingles. Located in Wolfurt's historic Rickenbach district, the facility demonstrates remarkable integration with the local architectural tradition while introducing contemporary design elements. The village of Wolfurt sits nestled at the foot of a mountain range, characterized by small-scale, fragmented development where traditional building forms and materials shape the townscape.
The most distinctive feature of the children's house is its sophisticated wooden facade system, which creates visual interest through varying board widths across a square floor plan. The untreated larch cladding follows a carefully planned pattern: vertical boards are installed between large-format windows and door openings, while horizontal boards run along the floor slabs. This alternating vertical and horizontal orientation principle was previously employed by the architectural firm in a school project in Au, demonstrating the studio's commitment to refined timber construction techniques.
The building's interior continues the strong presence of wood throughout its 1,650 square meters of gross floor area. White fir adorns the walls while larch flooring provides warmth underfoot, creating an atmosphere of natural comfort. The construction utilized an impressive 420 cubic meters of wood in total. The structural system employs a hybrid approach, with the basement and circulation core constructed in solid masonry, while the remaining areas feature solid wood construction.
The spatial program is organized efficiently around broad central circulation zones that structure the building's layout. These corridors are distinguished and highlighted through cladding made of dark clay-casein, creating a visual contrast with the lighter wood surfaces. The ground floor's central space functions as both entrance and distribution hub, providing access to the dining room, parent meeting area, office, team room, and cloakroom facilities.
The upper two floors house the educational spaces, with rooms for two kindergarten groups and four toddler groups distributed across these levels. The design incorporates flexible space division through mobile walls, allowing for adaptable configurations based on programmatic needs. This flexibility ensures the building can respond to changing educational requirements and group sizes over time.
The project represents a masterful example of contemporary Alpine architecture, where the extensive use of wood serves both aesthetic and atmospheric purposes. The natural materials create a warm, welcoming environment appropriate for early childhood education while demonstrating sustainable building practices. The Market Municipality of Wolfurt served as the client for this significant community investment.
The children's house stands as a testament to the enduring relevance of wood in Vorarlberg's architectural culture, where timber use in various forms – whether as shingles, structural elements, or interior cladding – has become almost synonymous with good architectural practice. The project successfully bridges traditional regional building methods with modern educational facility requirements, creating a distinctive addition to the village's architectural landscape.
