Dreieck Kindergarten transforms a former industrial building once used as a rodeo arena into a new educational environment for early childhood. The project is grounded in a fundamental decision: to preserve the existing structure, reusing its perimeter walls and sheet metal roof to reduce both the environmental impact of the intervention and construction costs. The building, which was originally slated for demolition, thus becomes the foundation for a kindergarten of approximately 2,532 m² of covered area, including 1,808 m² of enclosed interior space.
The intervention makes use of the existing building’s spatial conditions and organizes a series of volumes within it that evoke the scale and form of small playhouses. Their arrangement creates a playful atmosphere while organizing the program around a central play area that connects the different activities. This configuration encourages interaction among the children while allowing their activities to be easily supervised from the classrooms and common areas. Educational, administrative and service spaces combine a restrained architectural language with carefully integrated elements of color, giving the complex a distinct identity while responding to the scale and character of the educational program.
The adaptive reuse strategy is complemented by measures aimed at improving the building’s environmental performance. Wind-driven ventilators were installed above the central covered play area and classrooms to promote natural ventilation and reduce the use of air conditioning during the summer months. New steel structural elements partially wrap the existing building, creating the entrance portico, administrative area, semi-covered play space and cafeteria, integrating the new functions with the retained structure.
The project approaches reuse as an architectural strategy capable of addressing economic, environmental and spatial considerations simultaneously. Rather than replacing an existing building, the intervention preserves what can still perform and adapts it to a new use. The result is an educational environment that finds in its industrial framework an opportunity to create a distinct spatial experience, where child-scaled spaces, play, ventilation and the reuse of existing resources become part of a single architectural strategy.
Design:
Arq. Jonathan Corral Contreras
Arq. Martín Soriano Villanueva
Design Team:
Arq. Heriberto Díaz Ortega, rendering and 3D
Arq. Aida Uribe
Arq. Edgar Gómez
Construction:
FORUM Constructora
Arq. Martín Soriano
C.P. Fernando Soriano Villanueva
Structural Engineering:
Ing. Jesús González Flores
