Sand dune-inspired kindergarten completed by Dorte Mandrup beside a Swedish beach

Photography is by Adam Mørk. A playhouse is built into the wall behind one storage area and accessed by a wide wooden ladder with slim square-cut rungs, which ascends into   a nook in the wall. «Large windows in the facade and roof create a close contact with the sea and the surrounding landscape, and provides ideal daylight conditions all year round,» said the architects. Related story: Nursery extension by h2o Architectes enveloped by a folded fabric sunshadeThe 525-square-metre building   is located   on a patch of grass in front of an old school building, which has a white rendered facade and orange-toned roof tiles. Desk lamps and a white light fitting with articulated arms hangs over one playroom. The entire exterior is   covered in long strips of multi-tonal wood, creating   a weathered appearance. The rooms have white walls, light green flooring, and pale timber furniture. These sloping surfaces also create the impression that the single-storey   building emerges   out   of the ground. This space   features more vibrant green in the form of   lime-coloured   toy boxes   and the evergreen-painted runners of a wooden rocking horse. «The building is based on the surrounding landscape, with its flat slightly sloping dunes and the distinctive typology of the small fishermen houses,»   they explained. In the «cave-like» tunnel that connects the new and old buildings, rows of wooden cubbyholes are built into the walls to store the children’s coats and shoes. Project credits:
Client: City of Helsingborg
Architect: Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter
Engineer, constructions: Tyréns AB
Engineer, energy: Ramböll Sverige AB
Landscape: Marklaget AB
Axonometric diagram –   click for larger imageSite plan – click for larger imageGround floor plan –   click for larger imageRoof plan – click for larger imageSection – click for larger image The centre accepts children in   four different age groups and each is housed under a   separate gable. To the rear of the building, a playground is sheltered from the sea breeze between the old and new   schools, which are connected by an adjoining corridor. The shelves are backed with panes of glass to create a display area visible from the   corridors. This beachside kindergarten   in Sweden   was designed by   Dorte Mandrup Arkitekter with   a jagged timber form,   intended   to   be reminiscent of   a sand dune (+ slideshow). A door inlaid with elongated triangles of wood resembles   a backgammon board, while   skylights   set into the apexes of the gable roof cast   triangular patches of sunlight on the floor. Rectangular and circular sandpits with timber edging are sunken into the playground, while the strip   of ground in front of the building has been planted with flora indigenous to the   coastal region.