The proposal for Zaldibar kindergarten by VAUMM is composed of two buildings, connected by playgrounds. The plan responds to a simple strategy of settlement on the site, which is to get the most out of this relationship between full and empty. The diversity of color and interior cladding, which can be used in each room, make contrast with the external image of two buildings designed to provide an oasis of calm in the stridency and disorder in the external environment. More images and architects’ description after the break.
Therefore, the location of both schools gets suited for the need to rearrange the available spaces throughout the school, in the existing buildings and facilities whose use should be independent and / or shared. In turn, both buildings orient their classrooms towards the east in one case and towards the south on the other, allowing the optimal use of solar radiation in winter.
The interior is made up of versatile and continuous spaces, and they allow the control of lighting and sunlight. Both buildings have a central versatile space for games, meals or other activities that can be transformed easily, and directly accessible from the classrooms. The idea is to stimulate curiosity and creativity of children. Within these areas, children will have their first experiences with the world of education, recreation and socialization. They will make their first friends, will learn to count, recite the alphabet, create and explore their own fantasy worlds without paying attention to the designed spaces, but enjoying them.
The organization of the interior spaces is designed taking into account the different scales and perception of them by children and educators. The dimensions of the hollows, both interior and exterior, allow children the vision of all the spaces and the continued perception of outside, while educators can have under visual control any part of the classrooms.
The facades of modular panels of wood or CLT, raw or cardboard/cement paneled, provide the counterpoint to the abstract composition by the combination of panels of different dimensions.
