Based on the educational and social function of the school building, we propose that the implementation of this new centre helps to structure the environment in which it is located, which is currently poorly configured from an urban point of view.

The fact of opting for a single-storey building allows school life to be organised through a central axis - which gives access to all the dependencies - which acts at the same time as a transit and meeting area, with a clear vocation to be used, if appropriate, for pedagogical purposes.

The solution we present proposes a modular system of classrooms and service spaces, which gives flexibility in their uses. The courtyards are determined by the same layout of the classrooms, achieving an articulated set with a marked personality.

The independent access to the sports courts and the gymnasium (which can be used in a multipurpose way), located at one end of the school grounds, allows it to be used outside school hours and, perhaps, related to the future multi-sports complex which is planned to be built in Palau de Plegamans.

This approach, together with the choice of materials for construction (concrete, exposed work, aluminum...), optimises its maintenance, both in terms of cleaning and the natural aging of the constructions. We also believe that the exterior should be treated with the Vallès’ vegetation.

The Early Childhood and Primary Education Centre is located on the outskirts of the urban centre of Palau de Plegamans, structuring an area where isolated buildings of low quality coexist with a new urban growth of semi-detached houses, agricultural land and the presence of the Caldes stream.

The functional program consists of six primary education classrooms and complementary classrooms, three preschool ones and common dining areas and a sports area. Two decisions mark the project process: to develop the program on a single floor and to consider the interior routes, one longitudinal and the other transversal, as backbones of school life.

The gentle north-south slope of the plot causes a change in altitude of 1.70m. The topographic adaptation of the project on this axis allows to house the main access, as well as the parts of the program that need more height – dining room, kitchen and gym. The slope of the roof extends on both sides of the axis to accommodate the primary and children's classrooms. From the entrance and in an east-west direction, the primary education program is developed through a central corridor that distributes a double corridor.

The south-facing classrooms are grouped two by two, leaving a free portico between them, like a porch. On the other hand, the classrooms for specific uses - library, IT, music - are grouped in threes, opening onto the inner courtyard, allowing good natural lighting as well as good environmental conditions. The west-east direction houses the children's program. Three classrooms facing south and a psychomotor room to the north configure a volume surrounded by courtyards: play area to the south, garden to the west bordering the dining room and courtyard to the north forming part of the specific classroom. The linearity and dimension of the north façade is corrected by the appearance of the heads of the roofs of the classrooms, marking in this way the structural rhythm of the small scale of the classrooms.

The school is located in a low-density residential area, not far from agricultural land, and is characterised by the absence of any type of urban quality. The nature of the program recommended developing the entire centre on a single floor, in order to favour the direct relationship with the exterior spaces and avoid interior traffic in a vertical direction. The centre is arranged in two arms in a cross, organised by two orthogonal corridors, with some light ramps that allow adaptation to the gentle slope of the site. The classrooms are arranged in the body parallel to the street, slightly broken by the transverse body, which houses the singular parts of the program. The roof system is distributed from room to room, with a slope for each element of the program, so that from the street the school shows an orderly rhythm of built bodies that acts as a counterpoint to the disorder of the single-family homes on the opposite sidewalk.