Dandélio School

Coimbra, Portugal

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Dandélio School

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Remodelação de Edifício para Habitação e Serviços

Dandélio School

Coimbra, Portugal

Firm

ORANGEarquitectura

Type

Educational › Nursery

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2016

SIZE

0 sqft - 1000 sqft

BUDGET

$500K - 1M

The Dandélio School, a result of an AAPCDM initiative, provides the local community with a new space dedicated to children’s development, which is intended to be pedagogically differentiated, hosting a nursery and kindergarten.
The construction is built on urban land on a hillside in the city of Coimbra and its design seeks to enhance the compatibility of the functional program with respect for the surrounding morphology, while suggesting new architectural rules. Budgetary restrictions were also determinant, resulting in a modular-based structure that is reflected in the facade itself. Universal accessibility is particularly important in this context and, in this sense, any physical barriers that obstruct the free movement of all children have been eliminated, ensuring that, despite the project being developed on two floors, staff’s locker room, laundry, storage and covered parking occupy the lower floor, releasing the ground floor to bring together the main functional areas of the program.
The cruciform organization of the plan enables the atrium to communicate directly with common areas – teacher’s rooms, administration and accessible sanitary facilities – as well as the nursery and kindergarten. The nursery is designed for children up to three years of age and includes a nursery kitchen, nappy change and three activity rooms. With the exception of the nursery toilets, all spaces communicate with one another, allowing permanent observation and control. In turn, the kindergarten comprises two activity rooms, sanitary facilities, dining-room and multi-purpose room, the latter two of which are shared spaces that, through removable partitions, allow their autonomous use or together, also benefiting from a direct connection with the covered outdoor playground.
Indoors, the blue vinyl floor and the natural colour of the carpentry elements stand out from the rest of the materials whose predominance of white is intended to create an interactive neutral platform suitable for children. The outdoor playground is confined by the architecture of the building and the walls that delimit the land. It has privileged sun exposure, direct access from the activity rooms and, through a ramp, gives access to a second playground, to be located at the low level of the plot, which will include pedagogical gardens complementing the outdoor pedagogic activities.
Children were at the centre of all decisions relating to this process, and this care is manifested both in the allocation of the best sun exposure, natural ventilation and contact with the outside in the activity rooms, either in singular architectural moments, like the two different scales for the windows, resulting in the brand image of this initiative.