Studio Banana TV interviews Tarsoly-Navadijos, authors of the children playground shading structure in Boadilla del Monte, Madrid.
1. Project requirements and constraints
The commission for the project was the result of a restricted competition in which the client was seeking a solution for redesigning the playground of the Mirabal Nursery School. The Boadilla del Monte Town Council ceded a plot of land of approximately 1,072 m2 on the eastern boundary belonging to the adjacent public park as compensation for the land expropriated on southern boundary next to the M-513 highway (where town planning calls for the construction of a bicycle lane and a green area). The project had to resolve the integration and adaptation of the ceded land and renovation of the existing playground area of 2.840 m2, while also maintaining the zoning of this area by age groups.
During data collection for the competition, the teachers told us that the children did not play outdoors on rainy days. According to the National Meteorology Institute, it rains one week of every month between the months of October and May in the municipal area of Boadilla del Monte. During this time, the children remained confined in the auditorium. We therefore considered it a priority to increase the covered area dedicated to play activities.
The existing outer pavilion stood isolated in a vast playground along with a small structure that housed the toilets and a storeroom. A large part of the outdoor area was abandoned or in disuse. Moreover, the existing pavements were mainly sand and there were numerous curbs.
After winning the competition, the Boadilla Town Council informed us that the maximum building area permitted by the zoning had already been reached with existing buildings on the lot, and that it was consequently not feasible to add more covered space (only open structures would be permitted). Despite this, we wanted to create, while integrating the existing pavilion, a new space for play activities that would protect the children from both the rain and the relentless sun of Spain’s central plateau.
2. Justification of the solution adopted
By longitudinally extending the structure of the existing pavilion, the playground is redefined and the covered area devoted to play is increased, thus resulting more protected from the noise of the nearby M-513 highway with the new shade structure. Conceived as succession of different spaces devoted to play (beneath the overhang, the pergola, the old pavilion, the patio, the billboard), it is nevertheless perceived as a single body. Each spatial time is associated with a modification of the place provided for play (a rubber hill, a sand beach, drawings on the pavement or games with the structure) and a transformation of the body of the shade structure, thus shaping its formal variation.
Compliance with the zoning requirement to maintain a distance of 3 meters from the southern boundary (this does not run parallel to the existing pavilion) gave us the opportunity to curve slightly the shape of the new pavilion.
We tried to create a large playroom, well ventilated and cool. Aware of the importance of color in childhood development, we used it as a tool to create a stimulating and balanced atmosphere, which helps to make the architecture a serene and lively framework for the children to happily play in.
Part of our work consisted of preparing the new plot of land ceded as a space for play and finding a way to connect the main level of the existing playground (+602.80) with the lower level terrain of Monte Veleta Street and the public park (+598.20). Extending the horizontal level of the playground to the maximum extent would allow easy visual supervision of the children while they played, integrating the group of outdoor structures and spaces into a whole, but there was the difficulty of the steep slope of the terrain. Therefore, to achieve the desired elevations, we proposed the construction of a 1 meter high retaining wall on the boundary with Monte Veleta Street and the public park to contain the 1,500 m3 of earth that would be added to obtain the these elevations. With the additional earth provided, we created a topography of small hills (scaled to the bodies of the small children) in which different areas for play, islands of sand and an amphitheater built into the ground with capacity for 150 children would be integrated.
The children’s games were created especially for this project: the fences to separate the play areas of the different classes were transformed into an attraction that divides the groups by ages but invites them to play together; the rubber pavements adapt to the difficult topography creating islands of sand where the children play in the shade of the fruit trees that have been planted there; through the round windows, under the billboard, balls are thrown practicing skill and aim; on the blackboards covering the walls of the bathrooms, boys and girls can draw freely with chalk.
3. Constructive characteristics of the shade structure
After examining possible roofing elements, and taking into account that the new solution had to have a small impact on the budget, we designed the option that was finally built: a roof composed of a sequence of beam-channels manufactured with 3 mm thick folded metal sheet, which are placed every 50 cm overlapping each other for the entire length of the roof. In this way, in addition to creating an open pergola to make the blue sky visible from inside, we could channel the rainwater, protect from the sunlight and ventilate. The overlap between beams was calculated to prevent the direct entry of raindrops and those bouncing between the beams. The 9.10 meters long beams were painted sky blue on their upper surface and white on their under surface so that when the bluish reflection of the sunlight mixed with the blue sky it would enhance the sensation of openness of the roof. The rainwater, collected by the channels that make up the lower parts of the beams, is channeled toward the trees planted along the southern façade.
The new pavilion rests like a great beam on nine supports, floating slightly about the ground. The structure is built with vertical and horizontal metal tubes. The 50 cm spacing is predetermined by the fastening system of the 50 cm wide polycarbonate panels. By avoiding the use of diagonals, we were able to create a smooth translucent membrane and hence a sensation of lightness. The section of the steel tubes was increased in the points of structural tension to achieve, like in the strings of a guitar, the desired tone in each one. The 12 meter overhang that forms the eastern end of the pavilion is built without diagonals.
The metal pillars of the old pavilion which, if left free-standing, could be dangerous for the running children, are integrated into the translucent wall between the two sheets of polycarbonate. These synthetic sheets are constructed with the same opal panel, but graphics symbolizing children’s hands were printed digitally on their outer surface with white ink that contrasts slightly with the opal finish of the panels. This results in a visual pattern, a vibration extended to all that façades that alters the immediate perception of the industrial material.
