One year after its 20th anniversary the kindergarten Viverica (the Croatian word for Squirrel) of the Burgenland Croatian Center in Vienna needed a facelift.
The budget and timescale we had at disposition were limited. Works had to be done during summer holidays, the only period of the year, where the kindergarten is to be found empty. This means that we disposed of a very limited time lapse during which we could execute the numerous changes the structure needed.

Since a kindergarten is fundamentally a practical, dynamic and animated environment, there were to be found some architectural solutions which had to facilitate the accomplishment of the kindergarten’s tasks and have a minimal impact on its everyday routine. Imperative was also the necessity to respect and fulfill the specific requirements regarding special building and sanity standards. One aim of our project was to eliminate the various differences of levels and to create instead a continuous surface connecting the whole floor. We payed particular attention to detail, the materials used and we designed also the furniture especially for this project.

The construction works started beginning of August and lasted until the 1st September, the day the children were back to their modernized Viverica. In just twelve weeks we managed to achieve every assignment: the design and tender, the building supervision and project management.
Even the kids themselves collaborated to the designing of their own environment thanks to their creative ideas and sketches.
The realization of such a quick and efficient project as well as the management of the expenses is also to be acknowledged to the Burgenland Croatian Center of Vienna and the reliable and diligent partners.

Team: Fabian Dembski, Klemens Bichler, Iris Karminski-Pielsticker