Project Bonne Effants is a two-in-one building: a playful, nurturing daycare during the day and a dynamic neighborhood center outside of school hours. Located on Bonnefantenstraat, the name of the project also references the French “bon enfants”—“good children”—highlighting its primary focus. The concept challenges traditional typologies by blending child-centered design with multifunctionality in a space meant to evolve throughout the day.
The design takes cues from Waldorf/Abge Eckt architecture—a style I personally experienced growing up. In these schools, the focus lies not on rigid structure but on creativity, play, and self-expression. You learn through doing, making, discovering. The architecture mirrors this: nothing is purely functional or square. Instead, it flows with unexpected forms, soft transitions, and warm, tactile materials. We wanted to create an environment where children are free to be curious and imaginative, supported by an architecture that invites exploration.
A Playful Spatial Experience
You enter Project Bonne Effants at its heart. Alongside the main door, a small, child-sized portal welcomes younger visitors—an immediate, playful signal that this building is made for them. From the entrance, a wide staircase draws your attention upward, naturally lit by a large skylight that follows the flowing curve of the building’s inner gallery.
Upstairs, there’s no rigid hallway. Instead, a soft, curved gallery wraps around the central atrium, giving access to the classrooms while maintaining a continuous visual flow. The atrium itself strengthens the connection between both levels. A wavy glass balustrade surrounds the staircase void, ensuring safety without interrupting transparency. This openness creates a strong sense of community—allowing caretakers and children to feel visually connected at all times.
The architectural language of Project Bonne Effants is rooted in shapes that feel naturally familiar to children—pitched roofs, arched openings, and bold geometric windows. These elements echo the way children draw houses: simple, iconic, and emotionally resonant. By translating these naive yet powerful forms into architecture, the building becomes approachable, imaginative, and unmistakably theirs.
This vocabulary continues inside, where a grid of exposed CLT columns and walls is carefully shaped. Rather than purely functional, their softened profiles—evoking gables and arches—create a sculptural presence that animates the space and gives the structure a storytelling role.
Transparency was a key design driver. The classrooms combine timber and glass to maintain constant visual connection. This openness enhances safety, allowing for full sightlines, while also fostering a sense of shared experience. Above, a skylight dotted with colored translucent circles lets daylight dance across the floor, casting ever-changing patterns that turn light into play—inviting curiosity, wonder, and joy.
The structure of Project Bonne Effants is built entirely from CLT (Cross-Laminated Timber), chosen not only for its structural performance but also for its atmospheric and environmental qualities. CLT’s high strength, dimensional stability, and low carbon footprint made it the ideal material for a building centered on warmth, care, and playfulness.
Organized around a clear structural grid, the system provides generous, open spans—especially in the central hall—without the need for excessive structural elements. Load-bearing timber walls are seamlessly integrated into the layout, creating a simple and unified load path while contributing to the building’s monolithic expression.
Importantly, the CLT structure is left fully exposed. Rather than hiding behind finishes, the timber defines the atmosphere of the space. Columns are shaped with soft, childlike profiles that subtly reference pitched roofs and playful geometries—blurring the line between structure and storytelling. The result is a spatial experience where rhythm, materiality, and form are one.
The use of prefabricated CLT also allowed for efficient, precise on-site assembly, reinforcing the project’s sustainable ambitions while emphasizing a tactile, crafted approach to architecture.