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Architects: LAGAR Arquitectos
- Area: 2922 m²
- Year: 2020
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Photographs:Nico Saieh, Andrés Laborde
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Manufacturers: Comercial Arratia, Forbo, Maderas Laminadas, Rothoblass
Text description provided by the architects. The Puerto Varas School was created in 1996, located on the outskirts of the city of the same name, on an elevated place, with hills and wide views of the fields, (on the horizon the Andes Mountain range, and below the city of Puerto Varas). Over the years it was surrounded by new real estate housing and equipment projects. However, it remains in its formative seal, the experience of living immersed in its macro context, aware of the community, the climate, and the nature that surrounds it.
The project is driven by the concept "all spaces educate", from the heart of the classrooms, the play yard, the bathrooms, and of course the gardens and playing areas; in each place, we have the opportunity to educate and learn something new. The building was to cover the entire preschool cycle of the College (students, boys, and girls from 3 to 8 years), then the eastern sector, where there was a group of eucalyptus and other introduced trees that were going to be exchanged for native species, was chosen to receive the building. Given the size and the difference in level, it was necessary to "fold" the building, alternating contained and open courtyards, in addition to preserving the grain of the existing buildings.
The program is organized around two large covered patios that take notice of the hill on which they are located. The classrooms, all similar but different, surround these patios to the east, taking advantage of the morning sun and the views of a natural landscape. This is the stage of discovering, the patios zigzag, generating corners of small groups connected to the large spaces, the stairs are transformed into benches, and the universal accessibility ramps into playing areas. Thus, from the access to the building to the last courtyard, you descend more than 4 meters where the children travel and discover every day. On the contrary, the sky of the building is a large continuous and horizontal mantle, which contrasts with the ground accentuating this difference in height. The classrooms were carefully designed, (2.7m2 per child) and are lined inside, in grooved plywood panels to absorb noise and withstand the constant action and movement of all children's activities.
Two lighting systems were combined to generate different atmospheres depending on the work carried out. At the same time, all the rooms have an extension to the outdoor garden, next to this door the boots and capes are kept to work outdoors throughout the year. The classrooms share a bathroom for emergencies and in the yards, the sinks surround a planter to raise awareness of the cycle and water care. The same idea is used in the access area, where you can see how the rainwater coming from the roof is carried through a pilar, and poured into a shallow fountain, to become part of the waterway, that travels through the school’s garden.
The furniture in the classrooms was also designed to generate autonomy from the storage of materials to the washing of items and recycling. Regarding the materials, the radiars and walls are made of reinforced concrete, and the roof has a laminated wood structure and insulated Isopol panels. The same ones that cover the perimeter of the building. The floor is an acoustic vinyl folder of FORBO, SARLON RESIN color KIWI and the sky consists of an RF cardboard plasterboard, sound-absorbent foam, and a 2x1" pine palisade. The outdoor landscaping presents the trunks of the eucalyptus as an assemble game circuit, garden drawers, and orchards in the east, in the west, the ground was "corrugated" generating new hills for the spontaneous and collaborative play of the children.
It is a building that explores spatial diversity as a result of topography and the program, without a user’s manual, allows children to invent unthinkable ways of living and playing. In addition, it has a nutrition workshop and other trades that are for the use of all the students of the school, as well as its rooms and open spaces, are also designed for evening use, hosting talks and workshops that the school teaches to the entire community, thus providing a space for growth and development not only for its students but for all those who live with the school community.
