Children’s Village | Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero

Children’s Village is designed by Rosenbaum + Aleph Zero, The immensity of the Brazilian tropical savanna, the infinity of the sky and the popular knowledge.
It is the continuum, the vast and a thin line imaginary in the background that welcomes the journey and the knowledge of Brazilians living in the central region of the country. The architecture proposed there could not be distinct from such confirmation. It is the breadth that touches us, together with the beauty of the people who live there.

However, how would the architecture marked by memories, techniques, aesthetics, and rhythms become relevant to this location? How to deal with this site in which the current culture is modernized and abstains from any memory for a reproduced dream? How to intervene in a place marked by the manual work of agriculture and indigenous nature?

With these inquiries, the project moves towards transformation, cultural rescue, encouragement of local constructive techniques, indigenous beauty, and its knowledge, together with the construction of the notion of belonging, necessary for the development of the children of the Canuanã school.

The new organization in villages is based, in the first instance, on the need to add values to the whole existing complex, as well as to potentialize the idea of belonging of the students to Canuanã. Demystify the status of the school as the only learning space and transform it into a territory with a home value.

For this, the new residence is organized mainly in two villages, one for male students and one for female students. This separation was already present in the school’s scheme and was maintained. In this new moment, the houses will no longer be confirmed by large dormitory spaces, but by 45 units of 6 students each. With this act of reducing the number of students per room, we aim to improve the quality of life for the children, their individuality and, consequently, their academic performance.

Adjacent to the dormitories is different interacting spaces such as TV room, reading space, balconies, patios, hammocks, among others. All these complementary programs were designed together with the students in order to improve the quality of life and refine the bond between students and the school. n this way, in addition to housing a larger number of children, the new villages aim to increase children’s self-esteem through the use of local techniques, creating a bridge between vernacular techniques and a new model of sustainable housing. In this way, in addition to housing a larger number of children, the new villages aim to increase the children’s self-esteem through the use of local techniques, creating a bridge between the vernacular and a new model of sustainable housing.

In this new moment, the location of the dwellings no longer resides in the heart of the farm as it used to be because it must be filled with programs directly related to the act of learning. The new, larger and airier dwellings are located at strategic points that guide the new growth of the farm, organizing the territory and enabling a better spatial and functional reading of the school.

Project Info:
Architects: Aleph Zero, Rosenbaum
Location: Formoso do Araguaia, TO, 77470-000, Brazil
Architects in Charge: Adriana Benguela, Gustavo Utrabo
Design Team: Adriana Benguela, Gustavo Utrabo, Pedro Duschenes, Marcelo Rosenbaum
Area: 23344.0 m2
Project Year: 2017
Photographs: Leonardo Finotti
Manufacturers: Paisagismo /, Estrutura em MLC, Esquadrias
Wood structure design, fabrication, and construction: Ita Construtora
Landscape Design: Raul Pereira Arquitetos Associados
Lighting Design: Lux Projetos Luminotécnicos
Structural foundation: Meirelles Carvalho
Acoustics and Thermal insulation Consulting: Ambiental Consultoria
Mechanical and Electrical Engineering: Lutie
Concrete Slabs: Trima
Construction: Inova TS
Construction Management: Metroll
Interiors and furniture design: Rosenbaum e o Fetiche
Record and communication Material: Fabiana Zanin
Project Name: Children’s Village