The playground as a clearing in the woods

REQUIREMENTS:
The realization of a Nursery School for children from 0 to 3 years of age, of 5 units, with: a classroom for children from 0 to 1 years, two classrooms for children from 1 to 2 years and two classrooms for children from 2 to 3 years. It will also have a multipurpose indoor space for relationships and games, management and teaching areas, changing rooms, storage, laundry, cleaning room and facilities room.
The site of the project is the town of Feáns, on the outskirts of A Coruña, a border area, with varied and small environments.

GENERAL APPROACH:
The project arises from the intention of creating good quality public spaces of relationship for the village and its surroundings, at the same time giving it a certain centrality in the area. In such a fractional area and markedly individual property, the creation of public spaces is of great interest.
It is also sought to achieve with this action an improvement of the internal connectivity within the village as well as of it with the surroundings.
On the other hand, it also seeks to generate ecological connectivity from the river to the upper part of the village so that it contributes biodiversity to the entire intervention area through vegetation that will be primarily autochthonous.
For the planning of the park, possible pedestrian or cyclist circulations were studied, which were later adapted to the existing topography to achieve suitable slopes
For the final location of the kindergarten, contact with the forest was prioritized, therefore, it was decided to make the main access to it from the upper part of the plot and locate it in the void of trees in the south-west part. An attempt was thus made to alter the existing forest as little as possible, completing it later around the building.

THE KINDERGARTEN:
Functionally, the access is placed towards the road that runs along the southern edge of the plot. This, still of rural origin, preserves traditional stone walls that are intended to be maintained.
The building is organized from the entrance in the upper part of it, so that it descends on a ramp until it ends in the central playground patio. The rooms follow one another in a linear scheme, so that closer to the access is the management office for access control, also having a general view of the entire school thanks to the circular shape and the transparency towards the courtyard. The trolley warehouse is also located here, as well as the teachers' room and toilets. The classrooms are then arranged so that children with less mobility are closer to access and older children are further away. All classrooms have direct access to the outside through a series of covered terraces as voids within the building itself. Approximately in the middle of the route, we find the interior space for relationships and games, completely open and related on one side with the covered terrace that overlooks the forest and on the other with the central patio through a walkway and exterior stairs.
On the ground floor, in the space under the building against the slope, the service spaces such as changing rooms, kitchen, laundry, warehouse or facilities room are located.
The inner courtyard extends beyond the limits of the building below it, entering the forest to the east with a circular shape that intersects that of the building. For the closings of it, vertical wooden posts are used combined with areas of dense vegetation or with terraces in the topography itself towards the south.

STRUCTURE:
For the structural design, the location of the building in the middle of the forest, surrounded by trees suggests the search for a light solution, also taking into account that most of the building is raised from the ground. The density and verticality of the forest is also the starting idea from which the structure is generated.
Wood is therefore chosen as the structural material, a lightweight material that blends into the environment (what is sought is the mimicry of the building with the forest), sustainable and with a strong presence in the Galician structural tradition.
The proposed structural form responds to the conditioning of the building's shape (circular and ramp). Therefore, a system of radial frames is used, equidistant 18º from each other, and in which each beam descends 155mm with respect to the previous one, thus generating a double helical (ground floor and roof).
The columns are double so that the connection with the beam is facilitated by hugging it from both sides.
A second order of beams is placed between these frames, which together with third-order beams that are also radial, form a sandwich or slab board that is joined to a 30mm thick plywood board on each face. This sandwich is filled with wood fiber insulation. The third order radial beams serve to receive posts on the façade that hold the wood or glass enclosure as the case may be.
Regarding the foundations, isolated footings with concrete dwarfs are used to receive the double wooden pillars, and continuous footings and concrete walls towards the cut slope, under the building.
The bracing of the wooden structure to horizontal forces is guaranteed thanks to the rigid concrete elements, such as the retaining wall and the elevator shaft. The wooden floors, already rigid thanks to the boards, are braced with horizontal steel cable crosses at the bottom of each panel. Vertically, steel cable crosses are also placed in the areas furthest from the concrete cores. The facades also collaborate in the bracing since the boards bracing the vertical façade posts.

CONSTRUCTION:
The two facades have a different character depending on whether they face the patio or the forest. The first one, to the patio, is completely open, made of glass, like a large curtain wall that runs longitudinally through the building and allows light to enter throughout the day. The facade facing the forest, although opaque, has window openings in the classrooms, and openings in the outdoor terrace areas. The blind areas facing the forest are solved with a sandwich of double plywood board filled with a double layer of wood fiber insulation between crossed battens. Inside, the finish is made of chestnut wood flooring finished with oil, and outside, based on vertical strips (emphasis on verticality) of chestnut wood on horizontal strips.
The floors are resolved by means of a kind of raised technical floor that rests on the slab board. This space is used for the passage of most installations, such as plumbing, sanitation, heating or ventilation. It is solved by means of a double crossed trailing supported on wooden feet of the required length in each case. The final finish of the floor, based on chestnut flooring with a natural oil finish. On the lower face (outside), a false ceiling of chestnut strips in a radial shape that gives continuity to the envelope.
For the roof, the floor sándiwch acquires a slope on its upper face by means of longitudinal pieces (see longitudinal section). In this way, the water evacuation is resolved with a gutter at each change in level coinciding with the main porticoes. For the waterproofing, an EPDM sheet is used on the slab, on which an order of longitudinal battens are supported on plots and on these a radial battens that finish and give continuity to the envelope. Inside, a false ceiling with radial battens, between which the led lighting bars are integrated, all on longitudinal battens that hang from the slab.
The semi-buried part, where the kitchen, changing rooms, and other services are located, when being in contact with the ground, acquires a heavier character, trying to differentiate itself from the main propeller also in the material. The façade is therefore resolved with a granite stone enclosure with an interior cladding of laminated plaster and insulation between uprights. The walls in contact with the ground, made of concrete with laminated plaster cladding and thermal insulation. The floors are solved with a technical floor formed by a metallic substructure and high-density board tiles with a vinyl finish.