Kindergarten in Llubí
Site
The project of the new Llubí Municipal Kindergarten is planned within the outskirt, where the urban fabric of row houses begins to leak and there are some exceptions to this system. We are in an ambiguous situation, between the continuous row houses typology and the autonomous isolated buildings. In response to this special situation, the project takes place with an implementation that starts from the traditional system of row houses but generates a series of empty spaces that respond to the surrounding exceptionalities.
The courtyards on the façade are small urban irregularities that domesticate the street, making it more human. The school also causes some of these irregularities by placing two courtyards beside the façade, allowing the vegetation to reach the street.
Diversification of the outside spaces
The outside spaces have, in our latitudes, a fundamental pedagogical role. In this proposal, outdoor spaces are organized encouraging the interrelation between the different groups of children. Each classroom has an associated outdoor individual playground. Between the classroom and the playground, there is a bower / greenhouse that, apart from working as a playing space between the interior and the exterior, has a climatic purpose. At the same time, all the classrooms are faced to the central courtyard. This paved courtyard will work as a space for collective uses: parties, performances, theater, etc.
Organization of interior spaces
Service spaces are placed around the perimeter of the building, defining the back of the classrooms and allowing a centripetal relation of the interior free spaces. The internal free space is located in direct relation with the central patio and the classrooms are grouped in pairs, in order to improve their pedagogical functioning.
A pair of classrooms
The classrooms are grouped in pairs, by age. The classrooms can be joined in order to carry out toghether activities or to facilitate the punctual control of two groups of children by a single person. In the back of each classroom we find the service space (either the rest room or the bathrooms, depending on the age group). This space can be monitored from the classroom space through a small opening located in the closet between both.
Construction criteria: modulation, repetition and prefabrication
The entire building is organized repeating the basic 240 cm module. Systematizing, modulating and repeating allows the use of prefabricated materials. This minimizes the workforce required. This accelerates the execution times. This minimizes construction waste. This reduces the costs.
Materials chosen are mainly produced on the island: pieces of sandstone, concrete blocks, prefabricated vaults, etc. Constructing with local and habitual materials facilitates the execution since builders know their constructive system.
Construction system main elements
The constructive system comes from the characteristics of the materials and the dimensional coordination of them. Each constructive element, with a different format and size, appears dimensionally coordinated with the rest and in relation to the basic structural module. At the same time, each element responds to the construction in a very specific way.
Façade: The double wall façade allows a continuous envelope, with continuous isolation and the absence of cold bridges.
The outer layer is made of sandstone pieces, of 80 cm of length (multiple of 240 cm). It has 20 cm thick pilasters each 240 cm in order to stabilize the façade. The marès (sandstone) is finished with clay tiles in its weak points (as for instance the encounter with the pavement), glazed those located at the lowest courses, without glazing at the higher ones.
The inner layer is made of concrete blocks, 40 cm long (which is multiple of 240 cm and also of 80 cm), partially painted white on top, following the specified pattern.
Roof: The roof, as does the façade, maintains the continuity of the isolation and the absence of cold bridges. The supporting structure is made of prefabricated concrete vaults: the roof is executed with a circular half-section of 240 cm diameter. These pieces can be easily transported by truck. This vault characterizes the interior space and has painted white interior finish. The exterior finish of the roof is made of honey coloured glazed clay tiles.
Underground air space: The ground floor slab saves the existing slope between the plot and the street and takes advantage of it to create an air space in the empty space between the sanitary floor and the non-excavated natural terrain. The ground floor interior finish is a continuous linoleum flooring. Below this there is an underfloor heating system. The structure slab is made of prefabricated beams and prefab hollow concrete tiles. Below the structure we find the mentioned air space, connected to the interior space by adjustable grilles.
Interior furniture and skirting board: Both the interior closet that separates the classroom from the service area as well as the skirting board of the classroom that rises up to 100 cm from the floor, are executed with water-repellent MDF board 22 mm thick and transparent water-lacquered. Sliding doors and interior doors will be made of the same material.
Energetic-climatic strategy
Thermal inertia: great capacity in our latitude and climatology.
Continuous envelope: insulation is continuous around the construction. Absence of cold bridges.
Natural lighting: reduction of electrical energy consumption.
Cross ventilation: the building favours the natural movement of the air, since each piece has at least two different orientations, improving user comfort during the warmer months of the year.
Air renewal: the air exchange between the inside and the outside is constant by different passive strategies.
Thermal regulator: the greenhouse / bower functions as a climatic passive agent between exterior and interior. Its functioning is different in winter and in summer always with passive energy strategies. During warm months, the bower avoids the direct solar incidence, while, during colder months, the greenhouse accumulates the heat coming from the same solar energy.
Passive heater: the hot air accumulated at the top part of the greenhouse, will be mechanically led back to the different interior spaces.
Passive cooler: the ground floor slab, apart from saving the slope between plot and street, creates an air space that acts favouring the cooling of the interior spaces through adjustable grilles. This air camera, taking advantage of the inertia of the terrain, has a more stable and moderate temperature during summer.
Rain water: the water tank located under the central courtyard allows the accumulation of rainwater, for its subsequent reuse.
Deciduous trees: they filter direct radiation in summer and allow the sun enter in winter.
