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.

Architecture as an extension of learning

Conceived as a continuous system of ecosystems —mountain, savannah, village and forest— the African Flow school translates the symbolic richness of the African landscape into architectural language. Each of these spaces embodies a dimension of learning, offering a sensory and emotional experience that connects children with their roots and with the world they inhabit.

At the heart of the complex lies a large central courtyard, around which the various interior spaces unfold, all connected by a corridor that facilitates fluid movement throughout the day. The mountain is a place for inspiration and creation, inviting introspection through a grotto where children can retreat for moments of reflection. The village is a space for exchange and community, with a chapel conceived as an abstract realm where light and perforated walls foster silence and collective contemplation. In the savannah, bodies expand, gather and play on the floor and around the stepped seating. And the forest, located next to a small natural woodland, houses a structure shaped like a habitable tree, where architecture becomes play and play becomes home.

Each space is designed to resonate with the children’s daily activities: assemblies, games, explorations, music sessions or hands-on experiments with materials. The architecture thus becomes an extension of learning, in service of a pedagogy that places the body, emotion and relationship with the environment at the centre of the educational experience.

Moreover, the site’s original topography made it possible to create a second level that will initially house the community managing African Flow.

Building with earth, building with community

The construction process of African Flow was, in itself, a lesson: a practice of mutual learning between architects, local workers and the educational community. In contrast to development models based on industrialised processes and imported materials, Urbanitree opted for low-tech architecture with deep social engagement.

It all began with research to identify local suppliers —carpenters, brickmakers, wood artisans— and to generate a self-sufficient construction ecosystem. The building was erected using azobé, a dense local wood resistant to termites, and compressed earth bricks that were not kiln-fired, allowing light to filter through and harmonising chromatically with the reddish soil of Cameroon. Inside, noble woods such as iroko, sapelli, doucier and mouvingui were used—materials often seen as exotic in Europe, but commonly used locally.

A deeply African architecture

African Flow is not a Western import, nor an exercise in philanthropic exoticism. It is a deeply African architecture, inspired by ancestral forms and projected towards an autonomous and sustainable future. A place where knowledge is transmitted not only in classrooms, but also through walls, shadows, paths and materials.

This first building is just the beginning of an educational complex that will eventually include all levels of schooling, from early childhood to secondary education. Its very existence is proof that another way of building — fairer, more humane, more grounded — is possible.

As the Urbanitree studio itself states, this school does not only educate the children who attend it. It also teaches those who design it, build it, visit it and tell its story. In that continuous flow of knowledge, care and matter lies the true strength of African Flow.

The water tower, typically conceived in concrete, was reimagined as a timber structure equipped with photovoltaic panels — a poetic and practical gesture ensuring the continuous supply of water and electricity in an area where outages are frequent. This process gave rise not only to a building, but also to a learning network that empowers workers, showcases local resources and strengthens the social fabric. An architecture that grows with and from the community.

Project: Escuela African Flow.
Location: Soa, Camerún.
Architecture: Vicente Guallart y Daniel Ibáñez . Urbanitree.
Year: 2024.
Built area: 1.600 m².
Photography: Adrià Goula.
Promoted by: Misioneras de Nazaret.

Urbanitree: a laboratory of advanced architecture

Since its foundation, Urbanitree has established itself as a laboratory of advanced architecture committed to the ecological regeneration of cities and the creation of new models of urban life. Its approach lies at the intersection of sustainability, technology and biodiversity, resulting in projects that not only respond to current climate challenges, but also propose new, more conscious, resilient and collaborative ways of inhabiting.

Headquartered in Barcelona, Urbanitree works at multiple scales — from collective housing to urban design — and participates in international research and design networks. Its practice integrates knowledge from architecture, engineering, biology and digital fabrication, reflecting a holistic view of the built environment.

The studio was founded by architects Vicente Guallart (see biography) and Daniel Ibáñez (see biography), two key figures in contemporary thinking on urban ecology and emerging technologies applied to architecture. Together, Guallart and Ibáñez lead Urbanitree as an open, collaborative structure capable of imagining urban futures where architecture becomes a support for life.

Source: Urbanitree y Pati Núñez Agency.