Bambú Kindergarten/

Located in Las Condes, at the foothills of Santiago de Chile, the Bambú Kindergarten was designed with careful consideration of privacy for neighbours and a conducive learning environment for children. The building was partially buried, taking advantage of the lowest elevation point of the land to create an isolated space that is open to the distant landscape, hills, mountain range, and sky. The playground is situated in the centre of the building, surrounded by a system of classrooms and interior courtyards that provide clearly defined spaces. These spaces are articulated in front of two corridors that frame the large central courtyard.

The project features a path through a portico made up of several volumes with different shapes, such as a cylindrical volume, a square, and a rectangle. These volumes can be easily recognized by children, and they appear in the central courtyard, showcasing the magnitude of the great and small of the near and the far.

To unify the design, the building features laminated pine beams and columns, and pine wood planks for the walls. The geometry of the volumes is composed of basic shapes, allowing for the use of vertical, diagonal, and horizontal light in each of its volumes. The building’s forms are optimised to emphasise the golden light of the pine wood. Federico Assler’s sculpture, installed in the central courtyard, was specially commissioned for the Kindergarten and has a strong symbolic meaning for the educational project.

Architecture : Gonzalo Mardones V/Arquitectos

Architect : Gonzalo Mardones V. Hon. FAIA, Arquitecto AOA

Client : Florencia Falcone Assler / Bambú Kindergarten

Photography : Pablo Casals