Dark shell, colorful core

Wood is one of the defining materials in the traditional building culture of the Alpine region. It was therefore an obvious choice to use this natural and future-oriented material for the new building in the small Zillertal municipality of Schwendau. In its planning concept, however, the team led by architect Christian Weiss completely reinterpreted timber construction: modern, playful and at the same time highly functional. The two-storey building is clad in dark-coated spruce wood, which confidently shields the children's center on all sides. In the entrance area and towards the garden, the façade has been cut open, allowing its inner layer to shine through: With colorful vertical spruce slats, it calls out a cheerful welcome to the children and invites them into the building.

Colorful

The colorful composition is the result of an intensive design and discussion process, in which the focus was not only on the color scheme but also on the material. "In the end, we opted for a façade made of micro-ribbed spruce, on which the colorful hues were shown to their best advantage," explains Christian Weiss. The Salzburg-based company Hartl Holz used the water-based coating Lignovit Color from ADLER for the coloration. The opaque wood paint is equipped with high-quality ferrous oxide pigments, which maintain the bright colors permanently due to their high weather resistance. Coating the spruce slats in nine different shades from melon yellow to water blue using the Vacumat process was a logistical challenge for the Hartl surface team - but the effort was worth it: "With this unique color scheme, the 'Kunterbunt Ark' has become a real showcase project," product consultant Werner Bialek is convinced.

Flooded with light

As colorful as the children's ark is on the outside, the atmosphere inside is calm - "after all, the children themselves provide the colorful life," explains Christian Weiss. Here, too, wood plays a key role: the wood-aluminum windows set the interior of the Children's Ark apart from the dark brown and bright colors of the façade. Thanks to the Aquawood Natural finish window glaze from ADLER, the windows from the Rieder Zillertal workshop have a natural appearance. The same applies to the ash handrails and stair stringers: They were made by the Fieg joinery and painted with ADLER Legnopur with a minimal amount of white. Ash was also used for the wooden stairs, on which the water-based Bluefin Step Silent stair varnish - also slightly whitish in color and equipped with Aquafix S coarse texture paste - ensures a firm tread. Round window openings, glazed partition walls and a spacious atrium provide the rooms with daylight and at the same time open up lines of sight across all floors and parts of the building: "The building houses the crèche, the kindergarten and the municipality's youth center," explains Christian Weiss. "The clear structural separation of the different areas of use was a necessity. We wanted to promote an atmosphere of community and togetherness by interlocking the interior spaces via the central atrium and the diverse visual relationships across all levels." With success - since its opening in 2024, the "Arche Kunterbunt" has lived up to its name: from the garden level to the roof terrace, from the cosy "Spatzennest" to the hip "Kam'in" youth center, the new building has become a hub for young life in Schwendau - and a prime example of forward-looking, child-friendly construction.