Daycare Brønshøj

Every now and then one is struck by the beauty of coincidence. The unintended, accidental meeting between colors whose effect one could never have imagined. These meetings can remain completely unnoticed – until, suddenly, you catch sight of them.

Once you develop an eye for this accidental beauty in the unnoticed, it feels like an unexpected gift – a discovery one feels compelled to share for the enjoyment of others.

BEAUTY IN IMPERFECTION

The area surrounding the new daycare centre “Legehuset” on Frederikssundsvej in Brønshøj reflects this kind of accidental beauty. The ugliness of the place is unavoidable – traffic noise, jarring shifts in scale, and a patchwork of building types, all mixed with homes for ordinary people, small businesses, and pockets of light industry. And yet, it is in this rawness, this everyday messiness and seeming randomness, that beauty emerges. Beauty in imperfection.

EMBRACING COMPLEXITY

The idea behind the development is to embrace the complexity and layered character of the site through its careful handling of scale, transitions, colours, and materials.
The building is broken down into smaller volumes and responds to both a large 1950s housing block and early 20th-century villas. Like a masonry house on a street with small backyard structures and intimate green gardens and play areas, it stands with its own distinct figurative character and engages in dialogue with its surroundings.

SENSE OF SAFETY

The architectural strategy consists of adapting to the varied and layered scales and building heights of the area. The building is divided into three volumes, forming a small, composite structure with front houses, rear buildings, sheds, and so on, creating spatial variation in both the building and the gardens – reminiscent of what one finds in residential neighbourhoods. A structure designed to foster a sense of safety and homeliness in an area marked by architectural rootlessness.

On the villa side, the roofline is drawn far down the facade and angled inward, in order to match the scale of the surrounding houses. Towards the apartment building, the structure rises with a gable motif. The facades are built from brick elements in a special double bond pattern – a reinterpretation of the traditional brick bond, expressing the brick as non-load-bearing. Roofing and facade sections with bay windows, rear buildings and sheds are clad in steel sheeting.

SUSTAINABILITY THROUGH DIVERSITY

The building’s sustainability profile centres on durability – on creating a public facility that can be repurposed for a wide range of future uses. Public institutions typically have a functional lifespan of 15 to 20 years before being repurposed or sold due to shifts in demographics, budget priorities, etc. This building is designed with that in mind and can be easily converted into housing, commercial space, student accommodation – or whatever future welfare system may require.

The daycare accommodates three kindergarten groups and three nursery groups.

Culture

Transformation

Public

Private

Planning