Northwest of Valencia, the compact city of Paterna emerges onto a lush ravine. At its western edge, the community’s dense, mid-rise urban form abruptly gives way to a rustic and verdant sunken landscape. Here, at the border between the city and the rugged terrain, the striking yet deeply contextual Imagine Montessori School epitomizes the nature of its unique site, elegantly negotiating the boundary between two disparate realms.
Designed by local practice Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes, the 2,922-square-metre elementary school leverages its setting to create welcoming indoor-outdoor spaces that — true to the Montessori method — make the learning environment itself a vital and immersive teaching tool. Opened in 2019, the school has recently been expanded with a new phase — completed in 2024 — that introduces a dedicated reception area, meeting rooms and administrative offices.
Defined by a simple yet tactile material palette of clay bricks and wood beams, the whole of the irregularly S-shaped building is woven into the landscape, making the new phase a seamless addition to the whole. Throughout, the wood and clay structure fosters a quietly organic ambiance, and the sloping and richly vegetated green roofs creates a form that melds with its natural surroundings.
While the effect is one of deep immersion, the architecture is also decidedly subtle. At the west end of the site, a small forecourt frames a main entrance sheltered by the cantilevered roof’s warm wood soffit. Inside, the school’s zig-zag array of classrooms is organized flexible central space, with the new administrative space tucked to one side. In lieu of an institutional lobby or corridor, the open room combines a dedicated reception with a gathering space and auxiliary play area, with the latter functions spilling out of the classrooms.
Each of the 10 classrooms — which are spread across two storeys — is organized as a procession of environments, culminating in an outdoor space, with the glass building envelope that extends the learning environment into nature, weather permitting. At the entrance to every room, an inset arch in the brick wall brings bring the space down to a child’s scale, framing the entryway and carving out a dedicated storage area for shoes and clothing.
At the heart of the learning environment, a triple-height solar chimney brings natural light deep into the room, while drawing the eye to the handsome vaulted ceilings. Throughout the school, curved brick walls and dramatic ceilings — whether in angular wood or vaulted brick — introduce a kinetic quality that playfully breaks down the scale of the building.
While the simple interplay of wood ceilings and fired clay brick walls offers a tactile and earthy sense of comfort, their structural use also reduces the need for more carbon-intensive concrete, which is limited to the foundation, and steel, used only in structural columns and railings. Throughout the building, 60-centimetre thick structural walls of perforated brick are paired with smaller solid bricks used along the floors and vaulted ceilings.
According to the designers, the building’s radical material honesty can even become part of the pedagogy. “There are no false ceilings, no cladding, no technical flooring — nothing is hidden,” note Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes. “The exposed brick serves as structure, partition, and finish, embracing its natural texture and imperfections. In this way, the building itself becomes an educational tool.” And though the Imagine Montessori School only opened its doors in 2019, there’s every reason to believe are it’s already inspired a few future architects.
A Montessori School Nestled in the Spanish Landscape
Gradolí & Sanz Arquitectes uses a simple palette of wood, clay and greenery to create a spectacularly immersive learning environment.