Arreletes Day Care Center, Els Alamús, Spain
2008
Xavier Vilalta Studio d' Arquitectura

Els Alamús, a small village of 700 inhabitants, is situated on a hill in the middle of the plain of Lleida, surrounded by a landscape of predominantly agricultural fields and fruit trees, a geometric landscape, planned and designed, it is the result of the work of men's hands and engineering.



The nursery is located on the border between the town and countryside, next to the only road to the village, surrounded by a sports area, an orchard that will be transformed into a plaza in the future , and a slope that separates the level of the houses and countryside.



From the outset the project created two volumes: one on the bottom, the classrooms and the courtyard, supported by the existing agricultural wall and following the direction of fields; and the other one above, the teachers' offices following the direction of the houses of the village, overlooking the children's courtyard. The two volumes offer dual access to the school and are connected by a staircase inserted into the natural slope.



Personal experiences, memories of childhood spun among countless fruit trees, have been made material in the classrooms.



The spaces are versatile, continuous and have controlled lighting. The lobby and the first classroom can be transformed into a dining hall. The classrooms, connected through the changing room to the courtyard, enjoy excellent views to the east through the horizontal window that rests on the slope, and a pixelated image of leaves gives the interior corridor screened light from the west.



For the construction, industrial materials were used: steel, concrete, glass and wood. The design also includes a roof garden, while coloured glass makes the corridors a fun area for the children.



Spanish Architecture

Practice details

Xavier Vilalta i Sabartés (Mollerussa, 1980), studies in Barcelona and the United States where he moves with an international student scholarship and obtains the "named to the Dean List" in the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He has represented the Barcelona School of Architecture in several post-graduate programs in Princeton-New Jersey, Rice-Houston, AA-London, París-Bellville and UCLA-Los Angeles.
He has taught and lectured in several universities in Spain and since 2008 he is an Associate Professor of the ETSA Barcelona.



XAVIER VILALTA STUDIO operates since 2004 in the fields of architecture, planning, public space, interior and industrial design. The bases of the studio are the excellent design, a precise control of program and a budget, a professional management and the importance and value of the Architecture. The office is organized with a vision of work as a research in each project, a process of finding new morphologies though the most advanced technologies, a constant study to develop new materials and the aim to integrate architecture with the landscape to obtain a high end Architecture project.

Xavier Vilalta Studio d ' Arquitectura
c/ Roger de Flor, 216 Ppal 1a 08013 Barcelona
telf: 93.165.73.14 | fax: 93.162.08.92
info@xvstudio.com www.xvstudio.com

LEAF Awards 2008 Shortlist: Young Architect - Xavier Vilalta



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Arreletes Day Care Center Spain: page - adrian welch / isabelle lomholt