The school is located in Xàtiva, ancient city in Valencia province. The village has its roots in iberian and roman culture and during its history has known visigotics and muslim conquerors.

The new Jacinto Castañeda is in an area of urban expansion in the southwest corner characterized by medium density dwelling buildings (detached three-storey row). It arises on a plot by the side of the old school one. Only the old gym block is mantained. The new complex uses the old plot as extension for courtyards and sport facilities.

The plot has a rectangular shape and at the beginning it had a sharp slope, as it is located on the hillside, with a difference of 12.50m between the upper and lower street.

It was proposed a replacement of the existing building with a two-step procedure: The first phase was to build up the new school on the adjacent plot which would house the whole functional programme: nursery school with 9 classrooms, elementary school with 18 classrooms and all related spaces – dining room, caretaker’s house, parking area and some of the sports facilities-.

Once the new building was put into operation, it would take place the second phase: the demolition of the existing buildings on the original site, except for the gym, and integration of the result freed area with gardens and sports facilities.

The project praises the site features and the relationship between buildings with themselves and with the place.

The new building is accessible in three levels, which are adapted to the slope, in order to allow a good relationship between inner and outer spaces and accessibility to avoid excessive earthworks during construction.

The orientation makes available to capture the maximum lighting and avoids casting shadows between the built volumes. In this way the building is located on the western edge of the plot and is terraced to capture the light from the south and east and at the same time it manages to maintain the distance between different volumes.

Main access is located in the lower level as it is the street that has a better communication with village center. The main access level is reserved for kindergarten spaces and to configure access to the rest of the building, along with some common areas such as the Multi Purpose Room.

The nursery school has its own wing, which is organized in a comb pattern with groups of three north-facing classrooms. In them skylights towards east, which allow sights of the medieval castle on the hillside, improve lighting and cross-ventilation.

In upper levels elementary classrooms are located in three groups of six classrooms and annexed spaces.

On the first floor the classrooms are arranged in two parallel pieces which form a longitudinal courtyard. Classrooms are oriented towards the east, more favourable, while corridors are western-oriented.

In the upper floor the two groups of six classrooms are organized according to a L-shaped sketch, which maintains the upper limits of the plot and faces south and west.

During the second phase, after the old school demolition, elementary and nursery general playgrounds were completed.

Sports facilities are located on the lower level while the elementary playground is located in the upper one. To cover the height between the two levels a set of stairs and ramps is placed as extension of the inner arm of nursery classrooms.