abalo alonso arquitectos A Baiuca Kindergarten-卓美

Héctor Santos-Díez

The new kindergarten is situated on the edge of the urban center, where the town and the countryside come together. In place where the industrial past is still present in the collective memory, and where some old facilities remain. A series of volumes, almost elementary, are connected as if they were the wood houses in a nearby “rueiro” evoking the woodworking tradition of the area.
The functional scheme of the school is very simple. Three longitudinal bands fulfill the needs of the program: to the north, administration and services; to the south the classrooms and, at the center, the multipurpose room and general distribution hall of the building.
The main access is located on the east façade, the only one in contact with the street. Along the north façade a service entrance is reserved for stall, supplies and installation maintenance.
The central volume has no partitions, but it is organized by the roof surfaces and skylights that define the space, reduce acoustic impact, let daylight in and favor ventilation. This differentiation of spaces is not drastic, but visually helps to separate areas that can be used during different times of the day or for a variety of activities.
The south band contains classrooms. Slightly squared shaped, each one of them has a play area from side to side, a hygiene area and a rest area. The hygiene area, along the façade, offers control, daylight and natural ventilation. The resting area, towards the interior, creates and ideal space for audiovisual or, simply, permits organizing the classroom into different areas.
The building´s structural system consist of load bearing walls of contra laminated wood, isolated in the facades and lined with autoclave treated pine wood. The roof is built with double board over laminated wood beams, insulation and zinc. The windows frames are also made of wood and the partitions and linings, of plasterboard.