The intervention is born from the need to equip the current nursery school in the Municipality of Roverbella with an artifact, replacing the old one already present nearby, dedicated to hospitality and early childhood care, for the range from 0 to 3 years.

The nursery school “Gli Elfi” is therefore the result of a Project Financing proposal, advanced by “Società Cooperativa Sociale Dolce” to the municipal administration in response to the aforementioned need.

The proposal sought, in the economic balance of the parties, to organize the spaces for the nursery in order to create at least 2 sections, proportionate to welcome 30 children each.
The area identified for the new construction is inserted within the large green portion on the western edge of the existing nursery school, in a free area, delimited in the lower part by an internal road system – the Via Don Bazzotti, where the main entrances take place – and in the upper part by a rectangular sector within which a mini track for the road education of children has recently been built.
The project is based on an articulated trapezoid-shaped perimeter in which the new building must mediate the relationship between the surrounding greenery and the body of the canteen/kitchen to which it should be necessarily connected.

The planning strategy

The composition was based on a triangular-shaped figure, 45.2x32x32 m., whose base is oriented on the axis parallel to the perimeter margin, orthogonal to via Bazzotti, and the short sides, which close at right angles, are inclined to 45 ° to follow the position traced by the secant plane of the existing volume of the kitchen. The geometric description defines the ideal figure within which the protected external areas and all the internal spaces of the crèche have been organized, sized according to the regulatory requirements.
The quantification of the surface has been programmed on the basis of a number of 2 sections for a maximum of 15 users each, for a total number of 30 children. In this configuration, the functional layout is oriented with the lower west corner, aimed at establishing the entrance opening on the access road, and the upper east corner closing the eastern front towards which both sections open.

Part of the triangular-shaped kindergarten

Functional program

Leaving the approaching road to the area and having passed the short entrance duct, the space passes from the linearity of the initial distribution to an area that expands its spatial and functional expansion, following a second direction rotated by 45 °, to establish the appropriate area to accommodate the centrality of the functions of the crèche. In fact, while in the segments that flank the entrance all the rooms reserved for employees are used, both for the preparation and organization of educational activities and as for meetings and technical management of plant machinery, the central part, oriented towards the H of the basic triangular figure, houses the children’s space most dedicated to group knowledge and sharing of the activities reserved for them.
From this environment it goes directly to the most intimate and specific spaces of the two sections in which children carry out most of life inside the nursery and in which different moments alternate during the day, from sleep to meal, from play activities ordered to the freer psychomotor ones.

The section space, although organized to have an independence between the moments related to the activities and the phase dedicated to rest, was designed to allow flexibility and contiguity between the rooms.

Open space to have a communicating playroom and rest areaTo make the use of the spaces easier, both for the children and the educators, called to organize and supervise the spaces during the alternation of the scheduled daily phases, the sections have been coupled in a specular way by putting the two resting areas in contact through a mobile partition that can materially determine two separate isolated rooms, or otherwise a single dormitory in cases that provide for it or need it.

The potential of this area between the two sections, in the project intentions modified during construction, sought to be fully exploited also to allow the total opening of the two sleeping areas and, consequently, of the corresponding sections, towards the central space ateliers, transforming the central area into a single large room for parties and meetings.

Finally, the internal spatiality of the sections of the crèche discovers an important continuation towards the outside, through the “in-between” area defined by the veranda protected by movable curtains, inserted just like ‘open room’ to establish a direct contact with the internal rooms and to encourage not only visual but also physical continuity of the little guests with the garden.

Children's playroom with mats

Quality of the external enclosure

The dialogue between the vertical surface of the tape, which borders and separates the areas of the crèche, and the folded mantle of the cover become recognizable by contrast and complementarity of the material attributes: to the massive hardness, highlighted in the treatment of the perimeter walls, finished with a plaster sculpted by vertical grooves that vibrate the external closure surface along its entire length, contrasting the lightness of the iridescent metal sheet protecting the closing package of the factory.
These choices find the right match in the performance required of both partitions. In addition to ensuring ease of installation and protection through the use of pre-painted aluminum, the metal coating also provides excellent shielding which prevents overheating of the roof, thanks to the high reflectance index obtained by the finishing treatment.

Following the same desire for refined integration between the components, the correspondence of architectural language in the material choices re-emerges in the surface treatments of the infill. Different grains and colors of the plaster not only produce the vibrato effect imagined to stimulate the eye of the young guest, but suggest to the child the possibility of exploring by touch different textures giving the wall greater sensory properties.
The grooves made manually and carved directly in the semi-hardened plaster through the use of different molds, also transmit a game of references to the manual dexterity of the child, similar to that to which he is invited in games on wet sand.
The mass of the envelope is also perceived and declared to make clear the strong thermal barrier ratio absolved by the walls to guarantee a high insulating value.

Environmental sustainbility

The conception of the new kindergarten draws on a strong sensitivity towards the issues of landscape integration and environmental sustainability, expressly confirmed by the full respect and improvement of the parameters provided for by the C.A.M. law. (minimum environmental criteria of D.R. 11/10/2017).
The building also ranks in class A4 indicating an energy consumption close to zero. The control of comfort and the satisfaction of performance, as regards heating and air conditioning, is obtained with an integrated system of energy storage and production systems, solar and photovoltaic panels.
On the environmental topic, the resource from the recovery of rainwater, stored in special tanks, will also be used for irrigating greenery in hot seasons to optimize costs and derived consumption.

In conclusion, many of the devices studied and proposed for this intervention, perform an important ecological function, but, also, contributing to renew the formal structure of the architectural structures, they will facilitate the understanding of the eco-sustainable principles, preparing for a more conscious participation in the management of the natural environment for young guests, in recognition of the value of these components.