San Antonio de Prado Kindergarten

Mark Dudek

Description

The idea of a modular classroom or in this case a kindergarten classroom is not a new one. It is estimated that savings of up to 50% of the manufacturing costs are possible by making the majority of the building off-site in a clean factory environment. The units can then be delivered to site on the back of a lorry, either in kit form or as pre-assembled units all ready to be lifted onto the only on-site element of the construction, the foundations and below ground drainage. In some ways, pre-fabrication is ideal for school sites which have six-week summer vacations, thus avoiding the disruption which the traditional build processes will bring.

The problem with the modular approach is that the pre-assembly idea, predicated on cheapness alone, usually means that architecture is largely absent from the equation. The parts are usually constructed of repetitive box-like units, 3.8 metres wide and a maximum of 8 metres in length, so that they can fit onto a lorry for transportation to site. There is little possibility of varying roof shapes or eccentric plan forms which may appeal to children. The form will be dull and uninspiring as a consequence lacking the complexity and playfulness of an authentic kindergarten architecture.

There is a further problem which comes with all of this, an important sustainability principle, namely thermal mass: because of their factory construction, usually a steel or timber frame for rigidity during transportation is required. To keep everything as transportable as possible lightweight insulated infill panels are used for the walls and roof. As a result the buildings lack the embodied thermal performance of a dense material like stone or concrete. This makes the enclosed environment inherently unstable, with a notable tendency to be very hot in summer and, unless ventilation is extremely efficient, stuffy and uncomfortable in winter.

At the Kindergarten in Medellin, a team of two architectural practices has created a classroom module to deliver the promised expansion in primary school places required in this area of the Aburra Valley, high up in the Andes Mountains. Looking for an architecture which would fit into the natural topography, they chose a variegated, almost plastic plan form, without compromising on the basic modular requirement for repetitive units. Each classroom module is designed around one or two standard templates at most. The units comprise of two parallel long walls with four angled and gently curved corner units at asymmetrically splayed angles. Each pair of units fits together back to back with a fully openable wall panel to enable group learning. To create an organic natural effect using modular components is not easy. But here the designers have effected an organic feel which is totally complimentary to the landscape. Using pre-fabricated concrete units they have skilfully achieved sufficient variation in the architecture to create an easily constructable building all in thermally efficient concrete which is truly poetic.