We were asked to build a kindergarten adapting the ground floor of an old farmhouse. On the first floor a multi-purpose hall was also required with a separate entrance.
The terraced nature of the plot dictates the use of a double ramp descent to enter the school, whilst also allowing access to the multi-purpose hall via a gangway that is almost at ground level.
We plan the project as an ensemble between the existing building and the new construction. The new building consists of different strips that penetrate the farmhouse structure as per the requirements of the project.
A first strip of concrete runs along the southern façade and replaces a section of the lower part of the old building in order to incorporate exits from the school to the playground and a protective porch.
A second strip, the same width as the classrooms, is constructed of pre-fabricated pieces of concrete that make up a suspended floor to serve as a terrace for the multi-purpose hall. The strip turns up vertically at the end to generate a gap for the wooden gangway and hide the side wall.
Another strip of ceramic tiling creates a skylight over the passageway to the school and leads to the multi-purpose hall, whilst also enclosing the toilets.
A further strip ends before connecting with the farmhouse in order to form the playground.
The materials employed seek to provide a neutral, austere atmosphere, purposefully avoiding an excess of permanent stimulants.
Further lines, ornamentation and colour will be more than catered for by the future little users and their guardians, who can renovate the decoration as often as they like, and far more effectively than we could.
