NGO Fundesplai. Administrative headquarters, hostel, sports hall, training rooms and landscape
Fundesplai is intended to offer social inclusion and environmental conservation, all with a clear desire for sustainability. Its tremendous social work focuses on families in situations of marginalisation, and particularly the children of these families, offering them the chance to stay in holiday centres in natural settings all over Catalonia. It also builds hostels and nature education centres and provides soup kitchens and catering for schools.
Childhood summers are the homeland of dreams.
Local
Spain
Barcelona / El Prat de Llobregat Municipality
Mainly urban
It refers to a physical transformation of the built environment (hard investment)
No
No
Yes
2021-11-20
As an individual
First name: CARLOS Last name: FERRATER Gender: Male Nationality: Spain Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Balmes 145 Baixos Town: Barcelona Postal code: 08008 Country: Spain Direct Tel:+34 932 38 51 36 E-mail:judith@ferrater.com Website:https://ferrater.com/
URL:https://ferrater.com/ Social media handle and associated hashtag(s): #oab; #ferrater
Fundació Catalana de l'Esplai (Fundesplai) is a non-profit organization dedicated to educating children and young people, strengthening leisure organizations and the Third Sector, improving the environment and promoting citizenship and social inclusion, with transformative will, developing its activity in the equipment it owns. In 2005, the municipality of El Prat de Llobregat ceded two properties free of charge to Fundesplai. A set of educational, civic, social and environmental services intended for children and young people, as well as its headquarters, would be implemented in the "Centre Esplai". The construction of the building has developed the hostel complex with catering service, multipurpose rooms, classroom and meeting room, and the institutional offices.
Given the heterogeneity of the functional program, the "Centre Esplai" is made up of 3 areas:
• A Youth Hostel and Nature School with approximately 330 places that will incorporate dining-kitchen and catering services.
• A set of spaces intended for Training Rooms, meetings, conferences, meetings, congresses and an Assembly Hall
• Fundesplai’s offices and its entities.
The intervention followed the same criteria as the "Centre Esplai" project, seeking a balance between the austere, functional and practical building that solved the set of needs, without renouncing a symbolic and emblematic character typical of institutional buildings.
The expansion of the Youth Hostel
Based on the desire to have greater occupancy in the Centre Esplai hostel, the construction of a new volume consisting of a basement, ground floor, two floors and a flat roof, with 50 new rooms.
Training Center
Due to the great demand for spaces intended for meetings, conferences, meetings and training tasks we proposed to build a new training CENTRE that allowed the creation of several classrooms.
Multifunctional space
A third volume intended as a multi-use space to host sports activities, conventions and several events.
EDUCATION
SOCIAL INCLUSION
LANDSCAPE
SUSTAINABILITY
CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
From the environmental and sustainability angle, the approach has been to apply passive eco-efficient parameters generated by the actual design of the building: an optimum rapport between orientation/use, natural ventilation, control of solar radiation and heat loss by means of heat control measures like autonomous modular facings, facade air chambers, double glazing and solar protection; and active eco-efficient parameters such as the separate drainage network and a reuse of water via an internal circuit, a use of renewable energy systems, solar thermal panels for the supply of solar hot water.
The major role of light
The project stems from the section, a number of planes inclined towards the city, at times blind or with openings, and which also help construct the interior spatiality, both in the offices and the hostel corridors, at the same time as, with its geometry, it permits the light which enters from the roof to make its way and flow towards the lower floors, thus allowing, too, for ventilation and the extraction of air or the fulfillment of the fire-prevention regulations in the shape of outlets.
Passive and active systems
The facade of the hostel rooms has openings with aluminum frames and double-glazing, protected from the exterior by panels at different heights that guarantee the right amount of comfort.
The building has a separate drainage network, with its corresponding storage tank for reusable water.
The installation of solar panels on the roof will guarantee the saving of energy in the production of solar hot water for the bathrooms.
The materials
The building’s overall surface consists of a ventilated facade made up of an exterior facing of Swisspearl panels (deriving from recycled materials), a ventilated chamber, sprayed polyurethane heat insulation and an interior cladding of plasterboard.
CENTRE ESPLAI is a unique piece of equipment at the service of education of children and young people, the environment, social inclusion and non-profit organization in our country.
The project seeks a balance between an austere, functional and practical building which resolves a set of needs without renouncing the symbolic and emblematic character typical of an institutional building. Given the heterogeneity of uses, the project attempts to define a single container that groups together the different parts of this complex program, thus presenting an integral volumetric image to the outside world. Such an image turns it into an urban and civic reference point, given its position in the area, by generating public space and configuring a new urban frontage.
FUNDESPLAI works "with a transformative will and social inclusion". In this context, CENTRE ESPLAI is located in the neighborhood of Sant Cosme, in Prat de Llobregat, a community committed to its economic and social development.
This commitment materialized in a sustainable architectural project integrated in its environment. On the other hand, the proximity to the Natural Areas of the Llobregat River Delta places CENTRE ESPLAI in a framework of great interest for environmental education.
CENTRE ESPLAI develops the educational programs we carry out in schools and leisure CENTREs everywhere, as well as numerous training courses in different areas.
FUNDESPLAI’s human team, volunteers and paid, is its engine and what makes its action possible. CENTRE ESPLAI is a meeting, work and relationship space to give quality and offers the right environment for collaborative work.
Fundesplai Foundation is a state-level non-profit organization, with international exposure, especially in Europe and Latin America, whose mission is to educate children and young people, strengthen leisure organizations and the Third Sector, improve the environment and promote citizenship and social inclusion, with a transformative will.
The Foundation was born with a vocation to create synergies and contribute to providing creative answers to new social and educational challenges. It is a project that combines local and global logic, proximity to people and social needs and the collective focus of the strategies.
The Esplai Foundation's activity is aimed at associations and social initiatives, the Public Administration and society in general.
The Esplai Foundation was established on October 13, 1999 in the Register of Foundations of the General Sub-Directorate of Foundations and Entities under the General Directorate of Social Action, Minors and Families of the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, with number 08/0329.
Its mission is specified in the development of the following programs and projects:
Digital education: literacy, participation and useful uses of ICT.
Learning-service actions: Conecta Joven.
Health education and drug addiction prevention.
Development cooperation.
Elaboration of reflection materials for the Third Sector.
Associative development.
Social inclusion
Promotion of educational leisure and values education through leisure centres, in Spain and the world.
FUNDESPLAI is a lively, participatory and committed non-profit organization that promotes the social and educational recognition of leisure centers and articulates different territorial dynamics through networking. We work so that children, young people and families become citizens committed to a better world. In the Federation, we share resources, exchange experiences and coordinate different educational, social, territorial, political actions, etc. This joint action makes it possible to energize the associative life of many neighborhoods and contributes to creating spaces for participation and community dynamism. All the activities of the foundation share values that guide the educational and social action: utopia, solidarity, intiative and happiness.
"We dream of the future" is the name given to the process of creating a strategic framework for Fundesplai, with the participation of the diversity of groups that are part of it, or that share values, interests and projects with the organization. We are talking about a framework to escape the rigidity of action plans, and for the will to prepare for a society in constant and accelerated change.
Fundesplai has also implemented a volunteer plan with the following objectives:
Promote the participation of volunteers in the organization's activities, as an added value, in order to achieve the objectives with the involvement of civil society.
Describe the type of volunteering at Fundesplai: continuous, temporary and occasional volunteering and the incorporation and training circuits for each type.
Promote the involvement of Fundesplai's technical structure in the
support/support of volunteering and voluntary work.
To publicize the task and type of volunteering in the organization.
Establish alliances with other voluntary organizations and network at a glocal level.
FUNDESPLAI and CENTRE ESPLAI is a project shared with El Prat Municipality, the Government of Catalonia, with the rest of the public administrations and with all those entities, institutions, companies and individuals who share values and objectives.
The Fundació Catalana de l'Esplai has established a Marc Pluriennial Agreement with the Generalitat de Catalunya that integrates the collaborations in relation to the programs developed in disadvantaged neighborhoods, in the development of associations and volunteers, in child and youth education activities, in Childcare with special difficulties and in environmental education and health programs. Equally, it collaborates in programs of promotion of the occupation, of and-inclusion and international.
From the allocation of the resources of the 0.7% income tax fund destined to social purposes, the Foundation establishes an annual agreement of collaboration with the Ministry of Health, Social Policy and Equality. Des d'aquest mateix Ministeri rep ajudes dins the mark of the calls of the Regim General d'Acció Social i d'INJUVE (Conecta Joven). Fundació Esplai rep ajut of the Ministry of Labor and Immigration for the programs for the integration of immigrants and of the Ministeri of lndústria, Turisme and Comerç in the framework of the annual call for adjuts of the Avanza Plan.
The Fundació col•labora amb l'Ajuntament del Prat del Llobregat in educational, social and environmental programmes.
You agree with supra-local action programs to support the councils and col•laboration in the management of the equipment of the councils of Barcelona and Girona.
The Fundació Catalana de l'Esplai and the centers d'esplai of the Federació Catalana de l'Esplai receive subsidies and have signed agreements with regional councils and town halls for activities of children's and youth education and educational services.
FUNDESPLAI implements projects and activities for children and young people, values and attitudes such as solidarity, respect and tolerance are promoted, which help to make them visible as citizens with full rights. Premises of a new global ethic are proposed and work is done for social cohesion to face the possible effects of exclusion and conflicts that may appear among children and young people, regardless of their personal, family, cultural, economic or social situation.
The success of the projects and services is guaranteed, adapting the socio-educational needs of children and young people through solidarity and community work, which enriches the social and educational network.
In order to promote and guarantee the educational vision, in a coherent and inclusive way, it is based on the reality of the educational, social and cultural environment , where a set of methodological principles are applied that make possible the intervention of the entity. The methodology of the Foundation's projects and services for children and young people is based on:
Participation: to facilitate the development of the potential and capacities of children and young people.
Careful planning, scheduling, organization and development.
The active and dynamic character, adapting to reality based on the needs and social demands.
The integrating character, working on the acceptance of the characteristics of children and young people, their needs and interests, all of this being one of the starting points of the educational action.
Non-formal education, in addition to experiential and community education, is characterized by being critical - reflective.
Realistic and dynamic, so that you can participate in solving problems, facilitating the articulation of own resources.
Active and participatory, which reinforces the stimuli and motivation of children and young people individually and in groups, integrating practical experience as a starting point for reflection.
We indicate below the most important figures regarding the social impact and results of FUNDESPLAI-CENTRE ESPLAI at the end of 2021:
People who benefit from the foundation's programs: 261.740
Summer activities scholarships: 5.912
Aids for summer camps: 5.036
Aids Summer Camps for families: 660
Aids for holiday activities: 1.357
School canteen scholarships: 480
Participants in leisure activities and programs: 42.052
Participants in school programs: 104.021
Summer school activities: 23.146
Participation in environmental education programs: 55.260
Users of the Center Esplai hostel: 24.408
Stays in summer camps: 72.467
FUNDESPLAI has a network of Summer Camps for children. In its commitment to innovation, new spaces are created in which criteria of sustainability, functionality and construction are combined. The relevance of the work of OAB (Office of Architecture in Barcelona) in complicity with the promoter was a decisive factor to carry out a fruitful project process leads to a high-quality architectural work.
In the Children Summer Camp in Viladoms project, unity is proposed as a referent, archetype and image of the imagination of the children's world: small houses, town, relation with the forest, landscape, paths, nature and play. We have carried out a study of different types of settlements throughout history, applied to our cell, which have led to a didactic game that they have developed with the pedagogy teams of FUNDESPLAI. Precisely, in the case of Viladoms, it has allowed the arrangement of the pieces on the gauge of existing buildings, which shows the flexibility of the system itself in different locations. Therefore, the volumetric fragmentation into small autonomous units allows the number of users to be graduated and the maintenance and surveillance costs to be minimized. The simplicity of the materials used have allowed a great economy in the means of execution and the terms of the same, as well as the final impact on its subsequent maintenance.
For exteriors, the uniqueness of the material: facades and covers, both in residential cells and in public buildings, responds to the Parex Coteterm system, a flexible and self-cleaning stucco that allows the continuity of the insulation and the water-repellent treatment throughout perimeter. Given the final solution of the proposal, the spectrum of users is widened since it will not only be able to accommodate the summer camps for schoolchildren, but families and groups will be able to use the equipment throughout the year.
From the first moment when the Fundació Catalana de l'Esplai set out to build the CENTRE ESPLAI equipment, it was very clear that it was necessary to have an Accessibility Plan that would allow proper use for everyone of these facilities that host a youth hostel/nature school with more than 300 places, training and meeting spaces for the third sector and the Foundation headquarters.
The Accessibility Plan marked the criteria in the work such as the structure, dimensions that allow use by anyone without any discrimination, as well as aspects of communication.
In order to guarantee maximum rigor in monitoring the accessibility criteria, the Foundation defined an internal working group and sought external advice, with work meetings and advice with representatives and experts from COCEMFE and ONCE, and with the collaboration of the Cerdà Institute.
In this way, an accessible building was achieved according to current regulations. Without architectural barriers outside (urban planning) and inside (building), as well as without communication barriers.
CENTRE ESPLAI is a building that fully complies with the accessibility code as defined by law, with autonomous and comfortable use for anyone (100% of the code's requirements).
CENTRE ESPLAI incorporates aspects such as:
Widths of doors and corridors.
Elevators and stairs.
Itineraries with the possibility of turns in rooms, toilets, changing rooms, rooms.
Furniture.
Security measures.
Signs (communication barriers).
CENTER ESPLAI is an innovative, sustainable, eloquent and integrated facility located in the neighborhood of Sant Cosme (El Prat de Llobregat).
The CENTER ESPLAI building allows people who work there, stay or visit it to take a tour through its bowels to learn first hand how all these elements work and thus contribute to education in environmental values.
This considerable equipment of 11,000 m², which at the moment is already a reality populated by half a thousand users, appears and in reality is a normal building: no epidermal gesticulation or supposedly ecological gadgets; his whole conception of sustainability lies in the project or is hidden in its bowels. It is and wants to be a normal building, because the usual should be the correct cardinal orientation, the selection of materials according to their extraction-production cost, use and expected duration, the use of rainwater and gray water, the preeminence of natural lighting and energy efficiency or high user comfort.
There are some buildings in Spain that already incorporate some of these measures, but CENTER ESPLAI does it in an integral way, from its conception and, moreover, with the desire to spread environmental values.
Experimenting with new models: Citizen Science, Urban nature and environmental education.
Citizen Science provides obvious benefits for research in general and, specifically, for the focus on biodiversity conservation. It facilitates the compilation and interpretation of large sets of data that science could not obtain without the help of a network of citizens distributed throughout the territory.
Concepts associated with the deployment of platforms and projects of Citizen Science in the environmental field:
Formation: Citizen Science also has a training and capacity building aspect for the participants, both in terms of the discipline or the specific field of study of the project, as well as the applied techniques and methodologies, as well as the transversal skills that participation in the project allows to work individually and collectively.
Awareness: Citizen Science promotes the awareness of the participating people regarding different problems or socio-environmental challenges.
Transformation: Citizen Science is also a driver of societal transformation as it has the ability to change perceptions and sensitize the participants through of living, and promotes proactive attitudes and a series of values related to respect for nature and cooperation.
Co-creation: Citizen Science, by its nature and intent, facilitates the participation of citizens in the creation and articulation of projects related to research developed.
Citizen Science is also established as a very useful instrument for bringing science closer to society. The benefits obtained from Citizen Science are, therefore, multidirectional: the scientific community is nourished by data that allows it to carry out research; society connects with the importance of science and becomes aware of environmental issues.
