Primary School and Pre-Primary School for 1st grade - Nyoxani - Education, Arts and Recreation (former Piramidal Kindergarten)

Maputo [Lourenço Marques], Maputo, Mozambique

Equipment and Infrastructures

The Piramidal Kindergarten was designed for a population of 180 children. Currently is the primary school and pre-primary for 1st grade, called Nyoxani - Education, Arts and Recreation. Located in Sommershield neighborhood, on a large plot is limited by João de Barros Northeast Street, the Geração 8 de Março Street on the Southwest, and by Isaac Zitha Street on the Southeast.

 The neighborhood of Sommerchield is, along with the neighborhood of Polana and the downtown of the city, the area of Maputo where the presence of the architectural legacy of Amâncio d’Alpoim Miranda Guedes (1925-2015) can be felt with more evidence. Appointed by himself as the "rich suburb of Lourenço Marques" it is defined by housing for the middle and high local classes and for the foreigners. Despite being a mostly residential neighborhood, the area where the project specifically is localized is characterized by a significant number of religious and educational buildings, namely home for priests, home for nuns, Kitabu College, Escolinha Santo António, Polana High School (1970) By José Forjaz (1936-) and João José Tinoco (1924-1983), the Primary School A Luta Continua and, further south, the homonymous Polana church (1959), by Nuno Craveiro Lopes (1921-1972).

Designed in 1958 and opened to the public in 1961, the Pyramidal Kindergarten is the first project inserted in the “Americo-Egyptian style”, one of the families in "Vitruvius Mozambicanus: the twenty-five architectures of the excellent, bizarre and extraordinary Amâncio Guedes" (1985). Initially founded on the manifest "The American Egyptian Style" of 1965, this family includes, besides the Pyramidal, the Yeshouse (1960), the Service Station (1960) and the House Desirello / MÖSLEIN (1965) projects.

The admiration for the work of Louis Kahn is immediately visible in the clear analogy between the kindergarten and the Trenton Bath House (1959). The reference to Egypt establishes continuity of the ancestry of the pure forms of the pyramids with the modernity, exalted in the work of Kahn and reflected in the humorous tone of Pancho Guedes: “We can’t afford just to have pyramids these days, so we make them on the roof – we are not as lucky as the Egyptianas”.

With an accomplice scale with its users, the nursery is related to the surrounding streets and to the lot in an integrated and diversified way. Occupying the boundaries of the lot where it is located, the project is developed longitudinally throughout all the available space, confining the three streets that surround it, albeit discreetly. Forming an enclosure closed by walls and vegetation, the building allows being punctuality observed in the gaps between trees and in the situations that, assumedly, invite people to join in. These moments are coincident with the two entries in the kindergarten strategically placed on each of the lot rectangular tops follow the sense of hierarchy that defines the whole project. Thus, the main entrance is defined by the articulation space between the two main volumes of the building: the former chapel, today a gymnasium, headed by the most remarkable Kahnian pyramidal section of the whole project, and the longitudinal and transversal body of two floors, where it is distributed all the rest of the functional program. Apart being space of arrival, it is, thus, also space for articulation and thereby space of passage. However, being covered and outdoor, is also of staying; since we are talking about a nursery, this space quickly turns on a playground and we immediately realize this is the only space of the project where served and server area come together in the same place. In other hand, the secondary entrance leaves no room for vagueness: marked by a pyramidal roof based on four "thin legs”, it is located on the alignment of the main gallery circulation of the building.

With an accomplice scale with the user, the nursery is related to the environment, the lot and the street in an integrated and diversified. Occupying the limits of the entire lot where it operates, the project develops longitudinally throughout the available space, confining the three streets that surround it, albeit discreetly. Forming an enclosure closed by walls and vegetation that surround the building allowed to see the flashes of the timeliness of the trees and in situations which markedly, invite people to join.

These moments coincide with the two entries in the children's garden, strategically placed at each end of the rectangular plot follow the direction of this hierarchy throughout the project. Thus, the main entrance is defined by the space of articulation between the two main volumes of the building: the old chapel, today gym, headed by kahniana pyramidal section most striking of the whole project, and the longitudinal body of two floors that you and cross, where it is distributed throughout the rest of the program. In addition to the arrival of space, and so space of articulation and as such pass; however, covered and outdoor, it is also stay; in the case of a nursery to stay quickly becomes pleasure and immediately we realize that this is the only time of the project in that space served and server space come together in one place. Already added entry leaves no room for vagueness: marked by a pyramidal roof based on four "thin legs", is located - is on the alignment of inner circulation gallery around the building.

On the ground floor, the functional program is judiciously distributed throughout this unique gallery, facing Northwest, ensuring immediate access to classrooms, interrupted only by groups of sanitary facilities. On the top floor the served spaces are circumvented by two galleries on the entire length of the building, giving rise the projection volume visible on the Southeast facade.

In the outside, it is remarkable the dialectic emerged between the collective and the private playgrounds: the private playground, which works as an extension of the classroom, is succeeded by another playground space that connects with the most open and public recreation. This succession of spaces, from the classroom, through small breaks, to the great public place, is carried out through a hierarchy of outdoor spaces which defined by low walls, creates a growing spatial diversity. In other words, the outdoor spaces are qualified by a hierarchy and significance which results in a stimulating visual perspective of the axis of the main entrance.

The boundary defined by the set of these spaces is still marked by the presence of three bodies that stand out for their volumes. With a deploying of 4x4 meters, they are presented as prisms headed by such quadrangular pyramidal roofs. These spaces for storage define outer space stimulating children to observe the most elementary forms in a playful and educational way.

On the outside, the building appears as a volume grilled by filters or walls of tectonic intensity. The interior spaces are shaped by light, intentionally directed, whether in the long distribution corridor of classrooms, covered by a grid cut in sections of small pyramids filtering light strained, whether the focus light headed and concentrated which, throughout the day, moves with the sun through the space of the old chapel.

After 50 years of its construction, the Pyramidal Kindergarten presents several changes concerning the use of space: construction of new buildings, demolition of yards, subdivision of circulation spaces, and introduction of various security systems against intrusion, nonetheless the main features of the original draft are maintained.

Original by Ana Tostões and Zara Ferreira.

(FCT: PTDC/AUR-AQI/103229/2008)

Adaptation by Ana Tostões and Daniela Arnaut.