Crèche in Ourense
In the course of extending the university, additional care facilities for young children became necessary. The structure and materials used for this building were oriented to the Spanish “hórreos” – traditional barns raised on stone pillars and used for drying crops. The cubic form, 19 ≈ 19 m on plan, is enclosed within a translucent screen of open iroko pales. Raised on four pier walls and with broadly cantilivered floor and roof slabs, the structure seems to hover above the parklike surroundings. The interplay of open courtyards and closed volumes – with their shale-covered roofs – is evident only when viewed from an elevated position. Although the building is separated from the outside world by the filter of iroko pales, the green surroundings are drawn into the interior in the form of four trees that grow through openings in the floor and ceiling.
