Childhood and kindergarten Building from Zaldibar is a suitable candidate for Architizer Awards as it offers an example of modern sustainable architecture accessible to everyone on an extremely tight budget. It exemplifies how contemporary forms can facilitate environmentally sensitive design as well as a highly flexible layout that offers the ideal amenities to its varied users. The built project was the winner of an ideas competition that focused on getting a design of two independent buildings for kids aged between 0-2 and 2-3; both had to be integrated in an existing school complex and accomplish city council’s requirements such as being built quickly and inexpensively, as well as being part of an ecological design, efficient while taking advantage of renewable energies.
The project generates two modules, allowing the creation of 3 playgrounds for children. The buildings are conceived as children's game with a continuous cover and a combination of windows in the façade at different heights, sizes and colours, remembering an image of small houses. It is constructed integrally with local wooden prefabricated panels, which form structure, roof, partitions and facade. The buildings are designed according to criteria of eco-design, energy efficiency and sustainability. That is why they are provided with a huge amount of isolation within the whole building envelopes, they have been designed to make the most of sun radiation and natural illumination, decreasing electrical consume. It has been projected to have an under floor heating system sustained by biomass energy.