Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda

Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - WindowsEducational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - FacadeEducational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - DoorEducational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - Image 5 of 16Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - More Images+ 11

El Chaparral, Spain

Text description provided by the architects. The project essentially consists of walls and a ceiling with a variable section; these elements create a sequence of compressed and decompressed spaces.

The changes in section are determined by use (corridor, classroom access and bathrooms, classroom, porch-outside covered corridor, garden, exterior covered playground) but also by the movement of the sun and the longitudinal slope of the plot. The compression-decompression game works for both longitudinal and transversal space sequences: corridor – classroom and access to the bathrooms – class¬room – porch – garden – outside covered playground as well as classroom – bedroom – classroom.

Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - Image 5 of 16
© Fernando Alda 

The orientation creates a tension that is expressed through the system of apertures. The spaces opening towards the North and the courtyard get large window panels, while towards the south and the public, light is admitted only through glazed “cracks”. The fissures corresponding to the corridor and the exterior covered playground are brightly colours, while for the classrooms only clear glass is used. The classrooms are differentiated according to age groups (two classrooms for children up to1 year with bedroom, two classrooms for children from 1 to 2 years with bedroom and three classrooms for children from 2 to 3 years without bedroom). All the classrooms on the same level can be connected for larger group activities. Even if the mobile partitions are closed, visual continuity is still present through the glazed upper parts of the dividing walls.

Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - Image 10 of 16
© Fernando Alda 

The whole structure evolves around the exterior covered playground, that becomes the heart of the educational centre, linking the classrooms and the interior circulation with the garden. To the East lie the kitchen and dining areas, the administration and a gym.

Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda - Facade
© Fernando Alda 

On the exterior, the use of white massive volumes makes for an adequate integration in El Chaparral, a district of Albolote that emerged in the 1950s as a colonization village.

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Project location

Address:18290 El Chaparral, Granada, Spain

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Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: "Educational Centre in El Chaparral / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda" 03 Oct 2010. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/79913/educational-centre-in-el-chaparral-alejandro-munoz-miranda> ISSN 0719-8884

© Fernando Alda 

埃尔查帕拉尔教育中心 / Alejandro Muñoz Miranda

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