Kindergarten Rosales del Canal

Works process

Summary

The Kindergarten in Rosales del Canal is located in an area of residential growth in the south-west of Zaragoza.

The two main ideas that existed at the start of the project are based on children’s special perception of the constructed environment. The first idea tries to combine the general volumetrics of the public facility with the domestic scale that must accompany the child. The second has to do with the sensorial relationship between children and architecture.

The basic unit of the school is the classroom. Its form responds both to the primary identification of the sloping roofing with the protective roof of the house and to the advantages of height and additional lighting in the classrooms. The shape of the roofing of the classrooms is repeated to cover significant spaces that occupy a larger surface area such as the multipurpose hall and the dining-room.

The general configuration of the building responds to clearly organisational criteria, placing the classrooms around the patio, with service spaces situated between them and communicated on the inside with the corridor and onthe outside with the patio, via the continuous exterior porch. The lobby, the multipurpose hall and an administrative area comprised of the reception; the teachers’ room and the administration complete the functional programme.

Modular systems, based on light and dry construction, were considered appropiate, due to the need for the construction to be done as quickly as possible. The ventilated façade of phenol panels finished in natural wood and solar protection slats define the exterior shell of the buildings. The combination of horizontal and vertical wooden panels and coloured boards forms an apparently adventurous composition that introduces a playful air into the strict 1.20 x 2.40 m modulation of the façade.

Technical sheet

Location: Tchaikovsky street s/n. Zaragoza.

Architecys: Magén Arquitectos

Developerr: Government of Aragón

Collaborators: Beatriz Olona (architect); Gabriel Fraj, Juan José Escobar (quantity surveyors); Rafael González (engineer) José Sainz (structure)

Construction: Gótico Construcciones y Rehabilitaciones SA

Photographss: Jesús Granada

Project: 2009

Construction: 2009

Area: 1.790,22 m2

Budget: 1.936.546,98 €

Exhibitions