El Petit Comte Kindergarten
Besalú, Girona, Spain · 2010
Photo · Photo by Hisao Suzuki
A precedent for educational design demonstrating how a reflective ceiling and a dense rhythm of slender columns can create a dynamic, visually expanded transitional portico adjacent to a colorful courtyard.
- What we like about this project
- The highly polished ceiling perfectly mirrors the vertical columns, creating an illusion of double-height columns extending upward.
Materials
- colored-acrylic
- steel-columns
- polished-metal-ceiling
- poured-rubber-flooring
- glass
Visual identifiers
- slender-columns
- reflective-ceiling
- colored-tubes
- kindergarten-courtyard
- translucent-canopy
Style tags
- contemporary
- minimalist
- playful
- reflective
Visual tags
- educational
- playful
- reflection
- canopy
- transitional-space
- color-blocking
- child-friendly
- Geometry
- A long, linear transitional corridor defined by a dense row of slender vertical steel columns on one side and a glazed facade on the other. The ceiling is a highly reflective polished surface, mirroring the verticality of the columns and the colorful surroundings.
- Facade system
- Glazed storefront system paired with an outer screen of colored, translucent vertical tubes.
- Structural guess
- Slender steel pipe columns supporting a cantilevered roof with a polished metal soffit.
- Spatial scale
- Intimate, child-scaled heights combined with an elongated horizontal perspective and slender, closely spaced columns.
- Lighting
- Bright, diffused daylight filtered through a translucent canopy overhead, contrasted with deep reflections on the polished dark ceiling of the portico.
- Atmosphere
- Vibrant and kinetic, with blurred figures of children playing amidst bright colors and sharp reflections.
- Environmental context
- An outdoor kindergarten courtyard in Besalú, Spain, designed to be secure yet visually open and filled with natural light.
- Spatial experience
- The space acts as a covered outdoor transition zone or portico. The reflective ceiling doubles the perceived height and verticality of the columns, while the colorful, translucent vertical tubes in the background create a vibrant, playful, yet structured boundary for the children's play area.
- Composition rhythm
- A strong linear perspective established by the repeating vertical columns and the parallel glazed facade, balanced by the horizontal plane of the reflective ceiling.
- Style reading
- Playful contemporary minimalism
- Program
- Kindergarten / Preschool
- Perspective
- Interior Spatial
- Discipline
- architecture
- Materials
- colored-acrylic, steel-columns, polished-metal-ceiling, poured-rubber-flooring, glass
- Visual identifiers
- slender-columns, reflective-ceiling, colored-tubes, kindergarten-courtyard, translucent-canopy
- Style tags
- contemporary, minimalist, playful, reflective
- Visual tags
- educational, playful, reflection, canopy, transitional-space, color-blocking, child-friendly
- Geometry
- A long, linear transitional corridor defined by a dense row of slender vertical steel columns on one side and a glazed facade on the other. The ceiling is a highly reflective polished surface, mirroring the verticality of the columns and the colorful surroundings.
- Facade system
- Glazed storefront system paired with an outer screen of colored, translucent vertical tubes.
- Structural guess
- Slender steel pipe columns supporting a cantilevered roof with a polished metal soffit.
- Spatial scale
- Intimate, child-scaled heights combined with an elongated horizontal perspective and slender, closely spaced columns.
- Lighting
- Bright, diffused daylight filtered through a translucent canopy overhead, contrasted with deep reflections on the polished dark ceiling of the portico.
- Atmosphere
- Vibrant and kinetic, with blurred figures of children playing amidst bright colors and sharp reflections.
- Environmental context
- An outdoor kindergarten courtyard in Besalú, Spain, designed to be secure yet visually open and filled with natural light.
- Spatial experience
- The space acts as a covered outdoor transition zone or portico. The reflective ceiling doubles the perceived height and verticality of the columns, while the colorful, translucent vertical tubes in the background create a vibrant, playful, yet structured boundary for the children's play area.
- Composition rhythm
- A strong linear perspective established by the repeating vertical columns and the parallel glazed facade, balanced by the horizontal plane of the reflective ceiling.
- Style reading
- Playful contemporary minimalism
- Program
- Kindergarten / Preschool
- Perspective
- Interior Spatial
- Discipline
- architecture