16. Nov 2023
Case Study

With a donation in kind of products from the i.life collection, Ideal Standard is supporting a country house conversion for the Munich youth welfare project Artists for Kids in a way that is also significant from an educational point of view.

Artists for Kids (www.artists-for-kids.de) in Munich was founded in 1999 by film producers Bernd Eichinger and Thomas Peter Friedl and numerous friends from the worlds of film, art and business. Its mission is to provide quick and unbureaucratic help on behalf of the City of Munich, ranging from acute short-term emergency aid and longer-term outpatient programmes to year-round school projects. Since 2012, Artists for Kids has supplemented its services with a country house on a former farm in Weicht near Bad Wörishofen, made possible by the ‘Antenne Bayern hilft’ foundation. After Ideal Standard's previous involvement, the company is now once again supporting the Artists for Kids creative youth aid project in 2023. This time with sanitary facilities for an urgently needed conversion of a former stable building and a barn into new childcare, work and creative spaces.

In close co-operation with and on behalf of the Munich Youth Welfare Office, Artists for Kids continuously supports over 200 children and young people within the framework of a wide range of support services. These include outpatient support programmes for various problem situations. These include those who are no longer able to live together at home. Preventative measures are another important area of activity. Here, for example, the aim is to promote positive leisure activities. To this end, Artists for Kids offers numerous sports, environmental and creative projects and activities such as youth culture days. The basic idea of the youth welfare project as a whole is to attract personalities from all areas of society and the business world and integrate them into the support processes. Well-known artists (e.g. Nina Eichinger, Doris Dörrie, Michael ‘Bully’ Herbig, Uwe Ochsenknecht, Rick Kavanian, Max von Thun, Hannelore Elsner, Max Tidof, and many others) are also actively involved in the educational work.

New educational approach

Since 2012, Artists for Kids has been expanding its services with the ‘Antenne Bayern hilft - Haus’ in Weicht in the Allgäu region. The country house was set up on a former farm to provide various care programmes and temporary accommodation. ‘Many of the children and young people in our care live in cramped conditions and have often never left the big city environment of Munich. A stay at the country house takes them away from the stress and into nature. This also extends to acute emergency aid, for example when single fathers or mothers are taken out of crisis situations and can develop new perspectives for themselves,’ comments Daniel Mayenberger. He has been working for Artists for Kids for over 15 years as a curative educator and is head of department for school projects.

An important aspect of the educational work is the use of creative methods and the active involvement of artists - especially, but not only, from film, television and theatre - as well as actors from the business world in the educational work. Companies can integrate their commitment to Artists for Kids into their corporate social responsibility (CSR) activities, for example. ‘It is also important that we make the activities in our Landhaus accessible to the local public. For example, we organise the Weichter Youth Culture Days, which are attended by local artists and other stakeholders as well as children and young people from the area,’ reports Daniel Mayenberger. Various events are organised throughout the year. For example, Doris Dörrie organised a writing workshop with young people in German. There is also the support of numerous volunteers, including for school projects in the garden, which teach an understanding of natural processes throughout the different seasons. According to Mayenberger, the social aspect is also important in addition to the proximity to nature: ‘We deliberately chose the immediate vicinity of the village of 400 inhabitants as the location for our work. We are integrated into the intact, rural village structure here.’

New creative and work rooms and ‘shared living room

In order to be less dependent on external event rooms and outdoor events, which can only take place in good weather, Artists for Kids began a second construction phase in August 2020: the conversion of a cowshed and barn located on the grounds of the country house. The construction work was completed in spring 2023. The barn is to be converted into a theatre with a stage. Some creative and workshop rooms have also been set up. ‘Our children and young people now have the opportunity, for example, to produce their own plays during longer stays. This includes all phases, from set construction to rehearsals and the actual performance. This is then supervised by actors and theatre professionals, who teach them the artistic profession much more vividly than teachers could,’ explains Mayenberger. The creative rooms can be used for a wide range of activities: e.g. pottery, painting, jewellery making, hip-hop or photography workshops. And last but not least, the barn functions as a cinema and ‘large living room’. Because, says Mayenberger: ‘We also want to convey the experience of security and cohesion with our programmes in the “Antenne Bayern hilft-Haus”.

Donations in kind drive conversion forward

The conversion of the cowshed and barn could only be realised thanks to donations in kind and the active involvement of numerous commercial enterprises. Ideal Standard was also involved this time. ‘Experience has shown that it makes it easier for our sponsors to participate if we give them a more detailed idea of which contributions in kind are useful for us. For example, we enquired about certain products at Ideal Standard and also presented the background to our remodelling project there. Ideal Standard then approached us with a proposal for an equipment solution that turned out to be even better for our requirements. That was like hitting the jackpot for us. In the course of the planning process, we had more frequent personal discussions about the project. And Ideal Standard understood very well what was important to us when it came to modernising the sanitary facilities,’ says the Artists for Kids remedial teacher happily.

"From our point of view, the topic of sanitary facilities is important beyond functional aspects. That's why we also worked with the architect to design the interior. It was clear that the colour scheme would have a major influence. While childcare rooms, for example, tend to be kept in white because pictures are also hung there, we were interested in emotionally warm colours for the corridor to the sanitary facilities and the sanitary facilities themselves. In line with our educational concept, we also wanted the interior design to move away from the sober flair of a conventional youth centre,‘ reports Mayenberger and explains: ’The children and young people experience their stay here as something special. They develop a relationship with the premises and treat them with great care and affection.

Emotionally stabilising retreat

"The washrooms should be nice rooms. This is because they are important in educational contexts in that you can take time out here. For example, if someone wants to leave a group situation to calm down again," comments curative educator Mayenberger. The attractiveness of the sanitary facilities is also relevant when children and young people feel unwell due to psychosomatic problems, for example, and want to withdraw. Hygiene plays a particularly important role for girls at certain times. For them, sanitary facilities are ideally a positive setting in which they can get ready in a pleasant atmosphere, which helps them to gain self-confidence in their appearance.

Complete equipment with new i.life collection

This was the background against which Ideal Standard ultimately proposed a furnishing concept based on the i.life collection, which was presented at the Salone del Mobile 2022 in Milan. This choice also fitted in well because the i.ife collection corresponds to Ideal Standard's Singular approach: with Singular, the company offers its customers holistic bathroom solutions via a single point of contact. The i.life collection as a whole is divided into the three product lines i.life A, B and S. Each product line has its own character in terms of design and function. Ideal Standard's RimLS+ technology is integrated into all toilets in the i.life B, S and A series. This rimless design makes the toilets easy to clean, making them particularly suitable for high-traffic bathrooms. The i.life A product line was used for this project. It is characterised by soft, rounded shapes. Overall, the furnishings are made up as follows: The barrier-free WC area was fitted with a wheelchair-accessible Connect Freedom washbasin with Ceraplus 2 washbasin tap. The sanitary areas for boys and girls each received five wall-mounted WCs and two i.life washbasins from the i.life A product line. The stylistically ideal, harmonious addition to the i.life collection is the classic Ceraplan mixer tap, which was redesigned in 2021. Two Ceraplan basin mixers with BlueStart technology for saving energy and water therefore complete the concept for Artists for Kids. BayWa Haustechnik GmbH from Buchloe was also involved in the realisation and project management of this sanitary equipment.

Help for over 4,000 children, young people and families

With the conversion of the cowshed and barn, Artists for Kids has now significantly expanded its childcare services. The 30-strong educational team at Artists for Kids has already been able to provide intensive support to more than 4,000 children, young people and families in overcoming crises, completing school and starting a career and leaving difficult phases of life behind. "The non-profit youth aid project Artists for Kids also relies on support from the business world for its work. Ideal Standard is delighted to be part of the large group of sponsors who contribute to the long-term success of this exemplary programme, which is not only of great social importance, but also provides direct and valuable support for those seeking help," explains Marc Nagel, Head of Communications at Ideal Standard.