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Kindergarten Kids Enjoy a Funhouse Mirror Playground Building

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Mirror House at the Common, an Interactive Playground Project in Copenhagen from Danish architects MLRP is an ingenious and magical retrofit.

A simple and economical re-cladding has engineered a transformation of a formerly boring and depressing building into a fun place on the playground; the Mirror House.

The existing playground structure was a mundane and necessary building housing bathrooms for the kindergarden classes, as well as an all-purpose room. But graffiti-plagued, anonymous and sad, it was in need of an overhaul.

The transformation has made a simple building into an inviting and ever-changing visual extravaganza that is bound to spark young imaginations.

The pavilion was clad in charred timber on both of the sides, and with polished steel on each end, creating distorting funhouse mirrors that offer an amusing commentary on the children as they pass by. The new roof is steel.

Now, when the building is open, the children enjoy seeing themselves transformed into exaggerated monsters in the mirrors.

As well as a mirrored end of the building, the doors on the timber sides have convex and concave mirrors mounted onto the backs , so that when the building is open, during the day, it creates an outdoor hall of mirrors for these doors.

At night the shutters are closed, making the building anonymous. Windows and doors are integrated in the wood-clad facade behind facade shutters with varied bent mirror panel effects.

The building serves a mundane need. It houses a community room for varied uses as well as restrooms used by kindergarten classes.

The mirrored gables reflects the surrounding park, playground and the children’s activity, creating a nearly magical dialogue between the built and natural.