‘Dream tree’ in play school

A changing group of 
architecture students
at the Technical University 
in Berlin call themselves 
‘the construction pilots’. 
With limited resources 
and under the guidance 
of two independent 

architects, Susanne Hofmann 
and Martin Janekovic, they brought about the transformation
of the ‘Dream Tree’ day-care center in Berlin-Kreuzberg. 
As with all their projects, the construction pilots aimed
 to combine architecture with social needs: 
The conversion project is set to improve quality of life in a socially
problematic part of the city.
The central element of the transformation is the 
‘Dream Tree’, which is a construction made from 
plasterboard and highly refl ective stainless steel in 
the central atrium. 
The dream tree captures the imagination of the 
children, promotes communication

and off ers various chill-out possibilities: 
It can twinkle, light up and produce sound. 
‘Dream fl owers’ grow from the ‘trunk’ alongside a type of 
sitting basket and radiant ‘silver leaves’, which branch out 
from the ground fl oor to the upper fl oor. 
A child can sit here and swing to and fro surrounded by 
the backlit green,blue, yellow or orange dream fl owers.
Some of the leaves produce comforting ‘snores’. 
If the children move the rocking branch, it ‘laughs’.
The leaves cast refl ections onto the internal 
passageways in various ways. The concept is designed for three diff erent scenarios: 
In winter, the leaves catch the light in the entrance 
area and cause the leaves on
the ceiling of the passageways at basement level to glisten. 
In spring and summer, the light moves along the passageways 
through the atrium and bathes it in sparkling light. 
Additionally, there are six refl ective ‘daytime leaves’ around the glass roof,
which cast sunlight on the atrium fl oor throughout the year.