Muro early childhood school (Mallorca) designed by Bos Arquitectes with low-impact materials and efficient construction systems

In the municipality of Muro, on the island of Mallorca, the new early childhood school for children aged 0 to 3 occupies a singular position within the territory: an elevated site that acts as a transition between the urban fabric and the cultivated fields that extend into the island’s agricultural landscape. From this point, the surroundings open onto recognisable references of collective life —the old marés stone windmill, the terraces of the football field, or the outline of the town centre— while in the distance emerge landmarks such as the church of Sant Joan Baptista or the convent of Santa Anna. 

Within this context, Bos Arquitectes proposes an architecture that deliberately avoids any dominant gesture. The building unfolds on a single storey and adopts a consciously restrained presence. The school integrates into the landscape through a low, continuous silhouette defined by an undulating roof formed by a succession of shallow vaults. From different viewpoints in the surrounding area, this roof traces a gentle profile against the horizon —visible yet discreet, almost like a natural extension of the terrain.

The glazed ceramic finish of the roof, in an ochre-yellow tone, reinforces this relationship with the place. Its chromatic quality enters into dialogue with the traditional materials of the environment —marés stone and warm-toned clay roof tiles— establishing a visual continuity with the built landscape of Mallorca.

The architecture is organised around a compact volume that responds to both spatial and climatic criteria. This main body defines a small public square at the entrance, while on the remaining sides it delineates the more protected areas of the school: the south-facing classroom courtyards, the shared courtyard located to the east, and the service zone developed along the northern side.

Inside the building, a central courtyard acts as the heart of the complex. This void introduces natural light into the rooms and promotes cross-ventilation, while simultaneously generating a new educational space that, although exterior, remains protected from the wind. Visible from all the classrooms, the courtyard enables natural supervision of the children and establishes a shared place where learning becomes linked to the direct experience of air, light and vegetation.

A space conceived from the experience of childhood

The organisation of the building follows a structure of three longitudinal bands arranged around the central courtyard. The continuous circulation that surrounds it connects the different classrooms and common spaces, creating a fluid route that allows the building to be understood as a small interior landscape.

Within this environment, architecture also becomes a pedagogical tool. Bos Arquitectes advocates for an honest construction in which materials and structural systems are presented without superfluous cladding. The laminated timber structure, the ceramic surfaces and the textures of natural materials remain visible and accessible, allowing children to intuitively understand how the space they inhabit is built. What they see and touch becomes part of their everyday learning.

The roof constitutes one of the fundamental elements of the project. Each bay is resolved through curved laminated timber beams repeated along the length of the building, configuring six modules seven metres wide. This structure generates the vaults that define the exterior form while at the same time producing a warm interior atmosphere, where wood introduces a domestic and welcoming character.

Beneath these vaults, the spaces acquire a gentle and human scale. Light enters in a controlled manner through large openings oriented to the south and through smaller apertures on the northern façade, favouring cross-ventilation and balanced natural illumination. The classroom porch, together with the vegetation in the courtyard, contributes to regulating solar exposure and generating shaded areas for outdoor play.

Climatic architecture and responsible construction

From an environmental perspective, the project is based primarily on a passive strategy. The building concentrates thermal mass in the elements in contact with the ground —concrete slabs, stone walls and ceramic masonry— while the roof is conceived as a lightweight, ventilated system with low thermal inertia, particularly suitable for reducing solar absorption during the Mediterranean summer.

This approach is complemented by a conscious selection of materials with a low environmental footprint and by efficient construction systems aimed at reducing the impact of the building both during its construction and throughout its life cycle. The architecture is further supported by active technologies that complement these strategies and reinforce the overall energy performance of the complex.

Bos Arquitectes’ proposal thus develops around four essential principles: a climatic response carefully adapted to its surroundings, high energy efficiency based on passive strategies, the use of natural and local materials, and the incorporation of technologies that support the building’s performance. The result is a serene architecture in which form, construction and use combine naturally. A building designed for early childhood that seeks to offer a clear, understandable and welcoming place. A small architecture that, with discretion, becomes part of the landscape of Muro and of the everyday life of the community. 

Project: Muro early childhood school (0–3 years)
Location: Muro (Mallorca).
Completion: 2025
Built area: 745 m².
Author: Bos Arquitectes.
Architects: Miquel Barceló Ordinas y Margalida Seguí Tugores.
Client: Ajuntament de Muro.
Contractor: Obras y Promociones Comas.
Photography: Del Río Bani.

Bos Arquitectes

Bos Arquitectes was founded in Mallorca in 2016 by architects Miquel Barceló Ordinas and Margalida Seguí Tugores. From their studio in Palma, the practice develops architectural and urban projects distinguished by a close relationship with the landscape and with the specific conditions of the places in which they are built.

The studio’s work is grounded in what its authors describe as an architecture of principles: a way of designing that always begins with the existing qualities of a site — solar orientation, views, topography, or the built memory of the territory. From these elements, each project is conceived as a precise response to a particular physical and cultural context, avoiding generic solutions and seeking a respectful integration with the Mediterranean landscape.

In this sense, the architecture of Bos Arquitectes is guided by an attentive reading of place and of the people who will inhabit their spaces. Their projects — ranging from educational facilities to housing, renovations and hospitality buildings — are developed through a logic of constructive clarity, economy of means and commitment to the environment.

Before founding the studio, both partners developed independent professional careers in Mallorca and in Germany. These experiences have contributed to shaping a practice where technical rigor, territorial sensitivity and a broad understanding of architecture as a public service converge.

Miquel Barceló Ordinas

Architect Miquel Barceló Ordinas graduated from the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona (ETSAB) in 1994. He later expanded his education with a Master’s degree in Management and Administration of Construction Companies at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya in 1998, a specialization that strengthened his technical and managerial profile within the field of architecture.

Throughout his professional career he has developed numerous projects and construction management works in a wide range of fields, including residential buildings, renovations, educational facilities and architecture linked to the tourism sector. This diverse experience has helped shape a practice grounded in a deep understanding of the building process and in a close relationship with the territory of Mallorca.

In 2016 he founded Bos Arquitectes together with Margalida Seguí, beginning a new professional stage in which the studio focuses on projects that respond sensitively to context and to the sustainability of the built environment.

Margalida Seguí Tugores

Architect Margalida Seguí Tugores also studied at the Escola Tècnica Superior d’Arquitectura de Barcelona, where she obtained her degree in architecture before beginning her professional career between Mallorca and Germany. These experiences in different cultural contexts contributed to consolidating an architectural perspective attentive both to the Mediterranean landscape and to local building traditions.

In her professional work, Seguí has developed a practice particularly interested in the relationship between architecture, territory and material culture. Her projects are characterised by a sensitive approach to human scale, spatial clarity and the use of constructive solutions that engage in dialogue with their context.

Since 2016 she has directed Bos Arquitectes together with Miquel Barceló, where both develop an architecture that seeks to balance tradition, contemporaneity and environmental responsibility, understanding each project as an opportunity to reinforce the connection between architecture, landscape and community.

Project by Bos Arquitectes