Children’s House

Pedagogically-aligned school

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    Global finalist entry 2015 - Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school

    Open air class room, providing children with quality education tailored to their future needs.

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    Global finalist entry 2015 - Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school

    The rural school is surrounded by fields, making agriculture, livestock, aquaculture, hydroponics and construction part of the curriculum.

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    Global finalist entry 2015 - Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school

    The ecologically efficient Children's House starts with kindergarten and provides education that is adapted to the needs of the rural communities.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    Kokokali is a compound word derived from the Nahuatl kokone (children) and kali (house). Kokokali, the Children’s House, achieves an emotional connection between the educational space, its community and its users.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    This project aspires to dignify the school and perceptions of it from all stakeholders. The objective is to positively affect the quality of education by involving the community. Kokokali is not only a school: it becomes a space where the community can get together.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    The school will be self-built by the community and financed through donations and government support.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    The goal is for rural communities in Mexico to receive quality education according to their profile.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    The round geometry of the school favors dynamism and promotes equality between students and teachers.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    Students will learn to make the block that was especially designed for the school construction.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    The model is of a public-private school where students have scholarships up to 90% and pay only 10%.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    Agriculture, livestock, aquaculture, hydroponics and construction will be part of the activities.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    The produce of the harvest will be used to feed the students and the surplus will be sold to finance the school.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    Water will be returned to its natural cycle, used as irrigation for vegetables or fish farming.

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    Holcim Awards Latin America 2014 – Prize handover ceremony

    Presentation of the Holcim Awards Bronze for “Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school” in San Andrés Payuca, Mexico (l-r): Eduardo Kretschmer, CEO Holcim Mexico; project authors Francisco Pardo and Julio Amezcua, AT103, Mexico City; and Andreas Leu, Member of the Executive Committee of Holcim Ltd, responsible for Latin America.

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    Holcim Awards Latin America 2014 – Prize handover ceremony

    Celebrating the Holcim Awards main prize winners (l-r): Julio Amezcua and Francisco Pardo, AT103, Mexico (Bronze); Luis Tombé, Colectivo 720, Colombia; Juan Calle Restrepo, Empresas Públicas de Medellín, Colombia; Mario Camargo, Colectivo 720, Colombia (Gold); Izbeth Mendoza and Román Cordero, PLUG Architecture, Mexico (Silver).

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    Holcim Awards Latin America media briefing, Medellín, Colombia

    Julio Amezcua (at microphone) and Francisco Pardo, AT103, Mexico City, Mexico – Holcim Awards Bronze winners J for “Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school” in San Andrés Payuca, Puebla, Mexico.

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    Feature interview – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    “Children’s natural creativity mustn't be lost” – (l-r): Francisco Pardo and Julio Amezcua, AT103, Mexico

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    Feature interview – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    “The face of schools hasn't changed since time eternal” – Julio Amezcua, AT103, Mexico

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    Feature interview – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

    “Give all the children the same possibilities” – Francisco Pardo, AT103, Mexico

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    “Sustainability? Working with the community” – Julio Amezcua

    Julio Amezcua of AT103 in Mexico sees the most outstanding aspect of the “Kokokali” project is its engagement with the people and its specific context with the community – building connections at the emotional level. “Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school” in San Andrés Payuca, Mexico demonstrates deep sensibility for social, technical and environmental concerns – all combined and transformed into a stunning building for children, a building embedded in the landscape and appropriately playful in its formal expression.

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San …

    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

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    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San …

    Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

  • Awards Bronze 2014–2015 Latin America

The Kokokali (Children’s House) is founded on an alternative educational model for a rural community. The curriculum includes instruction in agriculture, farming and building construction, as well as the standard syllabus. The school is financed by Fundación la Concepción established by a Mexican real estate entrepreneur, and will be self-built by the community. Construction of the 3,260 sq m school is planned over five phases, concluding in 2019.

By Julio Amezcua, Francisco Pardo - AT103, Mexico City, Mexico

Ideas: Economic & Social Empowerment, Circular Design

The Kokokali (Children’s House) is founded on an alternative educational model for a rural community. The curriculum includes instruction in agriculture, farming and building construction, as well as the standard syllabus.

The school is financed by Fundación la Concepción established by a Mexican real estate entrepreneur, and will be self-built by the community. Construction of the 3,260 sq m school is planned over five phases, concluding in 2019.

Children’s House

Project authors

  • Julio Amezcua

    AT103

    Mexico

  • Francisco Pardo

    AT103

    Mexico

Project updates

April 27, 2016 | Global Finalist Certificate Handover | Detroit, MI, USA

An elegant and discrete structure dedicated to children’s learning

Francisco Pardo and Julio Amezcua were finalists in the Global Awards 2015 for their school design concept Kokokali. The two Mexico-based architects recently attended the International LafargeHolcim Forum in Detroit, where the Foundation took the opportunity to recognize their project with a Global Finalist certificate. The project was praised by the Global Awards jury for creatively re-thinking “the school” as a building type, and for reassessing buildings for education and investigating their architectural potential from an entirely new perspective.

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June 29, 2015 | Feature Interview | San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

“A building can help children understand life”

Feature interview – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

Kokokali looks radically different to every other school in Mexico. And the difference goes beyond appearance: The architects of AT103 developed a holistic education concept which also influences the design of the school.

AT103, along with a multidisciplinary team, not only designed the building and the furniture but also developed an education concept and an expanded curriculum for 75 the school. This includes the national school curriculum – after all, the children from San Andrés Payuca should ultimately receive a certificate that is recognized everywhere – and it also includes many other subjects, such as farming.

Julio Amezcua from AT103 provides the project’s context: “The face of schools hasn’t changed since time eternal: The teacher stands at the front of a rectangular classroom, facing rows of the more clever students, and far at the back the lesser ones. We wanted to break down this hierarchy, so there are no corners in our classrooms, no edges, no front and back.”

Read feature interview in 4th Holcim Awards 2014/2015 (flip-book)

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March 05, 2015 | Global finalist entry | San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

Global finalist entry - Children’s House

Global finalist entry 2015 - Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school

As one of the three main Holcim Awards winners for Latin America in 2014, “Children's House” automatically qualified as a finalist in the Global Holcim Awards 2015. All 15 finalist project teams were asked to submit an updated and more comprehensive entry that was evaluated by a global jury in March 2015.

View project entry posters - Global Holcim Awards

The results of the global phase of the 4th Holcim Awards competition were announced on April 20, 2015.

Read full media release - Sustainable design improving communities

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January 29, 2015 | 4th Holcim Awards Competition | Zurich, Switzerland

Global Holcim Awards winners announced April 20

Global Gold Awards 2015 prize handover – Articulated Site: Water reservoirs as public park, Medellín, Colombia

The winners of the global phase of the 4th International Holcim Awards competition will be revealed on April 20, 2015. The results will be announced via the Holcim Awards website.

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October 11, 2014 | Video – Project Author | Medellín, Colombia

“Sustainability? Working with the community” – Julio Amezcua

“Sustainability? Working with the community” – Julio Amezcua

Julio Amezcua of AT103 in Mexico sees the most outstanding aspect of the “Kokokali” project is its engagement with the people and its specific context with the community – building connections at the emotional level. “Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school” in San Andrés Payuca, Mexico demonstrates deep sensibility for social, technical and environmental concerns – all combined and transformed into a stunning building for children, a building embedded in the landscape and appropriately playful in its formal expression.

Watch video

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October 02, 2014 | Winners for Latin America Announced | Medellín, Colombia

Focus on people and place: Top sustainable construction Awards to Colombia, Costa Rica and Mexico

Holcim Awards Latin America 2014 – Prize handover ceremony

The 12 winning projects of the Holcim Awards 2014 for Latin America focus mainly on adaptability and social performance, and show how sustainable construction is developing multi-disciplinary responses to the challenges facing design and building. A public park above a series of reservoirs in Medellín, a low-impact timber rainforest center in Costa Rica and a pedagogically-aligned school in Mexico were awarded gold, silver and bronze.

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July 05, 2014 | Regional Jury Report – Latin America | San José, Costa Rica

“A deep sensibility for social, technical and environmental concerns” – Holcim Awards Jury

Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San …

Whereas the beauty and precision of the submitted drawings initially captured the attention of the jury, a closer look at the project revealed a deep sensibility for social, technical and environmental concerns – all combined and transformed into a stunning building for children, a building embedded in the landscape and appropriately playful in its formal expression. The jury was furthermore impressed by the scheme’s minimal deployment of architectural elements, such as the use of one continuous wall encasing the entire school, to achieve maximum effects – an “economy of means” contributing of an elegant and discrete structure dedicated to the next generation, while changing the paradigm of education in rural Mexico.

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March 31, 2014 | Project Entry & Details | San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

Project Entry 2014 for Latin America

Project entry 2014 Latin America – Children’s House: Pedagogically-aligned school, San …

Children’s House is a project that is founded on an alternative educational model, offering activities that find solutions to the real problems of the population in the San Andrés Payuca rural community, north-east of Puebla, Mexico. Correspondingly, the school’s curriculum includes instruction in agriculture, farming and building construction, in addition to normal course work. The design for the school – arranged by Fundación la Concepción and self-built by the community – proposes the use of cement-reinforced compacted blocks using readily accessible local earth.

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Related information

Links and downloads:

Location

pin San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

San Andrés Payuca, Mexico

Videos

Children’s House: Holcim Awards Bronze 2014 for Latin America

Children’s House: Holcim Awards Bronze 2014 for Latin America

“Sustainability? Working with the community” – Julio Amezcua

“Sustainability? Working with the community” – Julio Amezcua