El Petit Comte Kindergarten

Besalú, Girona, Spain

Photo © Hisao Suzuki

Architects: RCR Arquitectes

Location: Besalú, Girona, Spain
Year: 2010

“We love children and their world. Their toys, their colored boxes, their raised heads seeking an adult’s gaze.”

The new municipal school, built to free up the old site in the town, has approximately 80 children occupying its 1000 square meters. From the exterior, the almost rectangular building appears simple. Vertical tubes (some of them structural) of different diameters create a perimeter using a rainbow of colors, which some have likened to giant colored pencils surrounding the building. Some of the tubes rotate and invite the children to play. Floor to ceiling glass is used to enclose much of the building, so that natural light full of color filters in.

From the classrooms it’s possible to see the courtyard, with it’s steel and Plexiglas tubes, and the mountains beyond.

The one-story school has a courtyard or play area around which are the classrooms, sleeping areas and a multipurpose room. A light well provides natural light for the administrative offices and the kitchen, with its service area. With this arrangement, there are no corridors, dark corners or residual spaces; every room overlooks the outside, but is protected and secure, thanks to the colored tubes. Interaction, fantasy and luminous play spaces make a welcoming environment for children and teachers alike.