Nursery and primary school
Na Caragol nursery and primary school are located in the periphery of Artà, a small town on the island of Mallorca. Set in a plot at the edge of farmland, the school sits in the corner next to the adjacent school. Na Caragol architectural project is a consequence of the directions set by the teaching team and the local education body, which shared a vision for a one-room school. The spatial relationships between classrooms and shared space becomes of great importance, and their permeability carefully studied. The interior common space can be used to teach different classes simultaneously as well as a place for leisure or workshops.
The whole program of the nursery, the school and the dining hall, is developed on ground floor level to minimize level changes for easy accessibility of both disabled and children. The three resulting self-contained volumes are set in different levels to minimize earthworks and to facilitate ventilation and sun light to the deep interiors. The project moves away from a big structure monolithic architecture and instead the volume is fragmented in three smaller scale volumes that emulate the scale of a house and that of the children. Each piece is autonomous and sits in the plot according to parameters such as : topography, pedestrian access and playground.
The three volumes are “sculptured” from the exterior inwards, and their “erosion” generates rich interstitial spaces that happen around the buildings, likely to be occupied as outdoor classrooms or event spaces. The typology is a series of surrounding classrooms towards a generous common interior space generating deep plan building with vertical skylights for ventilation and lighting. The roof is colonized by a series of cubes which house the skylights, roof access and climate control machines.
The materials and the techniques chosen, are locally manufactured and intentionally labour intense, creating a relevant impact on the local economy. A rendered and exposed concrete block is the predominant material on the project, creating the exterior walls and the lattices that protect the interior solar radiation, while letting the air filter through.
