Children’s Centre IKC De Vaart

Children’s Centre IKC De Vaart

Green heart for learning, sport, community

In Ter Aar, a new kind of civic landscape is taking root. Designed by De Zwart Hond for the municipality of Nieuwkoop, IKC De Vaart brings together a daycare, primary school, youth and family centre, library, and shared sports hall under one roof. Felixx developed the masterplan around it, weaving these programmes into a single, coherent green landscape that grows with the neighbourhood around it.

The Masterplan

The municipality saw an opportunity: existing sports fields, the Scouting Wapata grounds, and the Argonnepark could become something greater than the sum of their parts. Felixx rooted the masterplan in an estate concept, a spatial logic that organises the site into a lush, structured, and legible landscape. One that complements the architecture of the children's centre, draws in the surrounding landscape, and grows outward to connect with the wider city.

A Unified Green Identity

Like a well-tended estate, the landscape of IKC De Vaart is generous, structured, and consistent. Paths, roads, and surfaces carry vibrant colours and materials that reflect the identity of the park as a whole. Entrances, signage, and furnishings share a recognisable estate language, giving the entire area a clear, inviting character that holds together across every corner of the site.

A Multifunctional Landscape

The different programmes of the site do not sit side by side. They support one another. Primary school children play football on the sports fields. The daycare reaches into the scouting grounds. Community events spill into the sports hall. Public space is shaped with natural play elements that invite movement, curiosity, and learning. Each function strengthens the next, creating a place that grows more valuable through use.

Landscape Rooms

The site is organised around distinct landscape rooms, each with its own identity, programme, and spatial character. The children's centre anchors the whole as the central hub. The tennis and football fields define the sports room. Together, these rooms create a spatial rhythm that is both structured and alive, a landscape that children, families, and neighbours can read, use, and return to.

Connectivity and Accessibility

IKC De Vaart is embedded in its wider neighbourhood rather than set apart from it. The masterplan weaves the site into its broader context through clear, safe routes and easily recognisable entrances. Separate car and bicycle access keeps movement safe and smooth. A new network of public paths branches through the site, connecting the neighbourhood with each landscape room and making the whole area open and accessible to all.