School architecture in Uruguay is one of the most important public infrastructure networks in the country, with 2,770 educational centers distributed throughout the country, according to ANEP data from 2019.[1]​The establishment of school buildings since the end of the century generated a considerable contribution to the development of architecture in Uruguay.[2]​.

The establishment of school buildings in Uruguay began towards the end of the century, along with the Varela reform promoted by José Pedro Varela and Jacobo Varela.[2] Until that moment, there was no public education system established as such, and different reports commissioned by Varela and other authorities outline the lack of public buildings suitable for school activities.[2]​.

Around 1950-1960, there was a renewal of school architecture, promoted by the collaboration between Julio Castro and the architects Hugo Rodríguez Juanotena and Gonzalo Rodríguez Orozco from the Ministry of Public Works. This collaboration was strongly influenced by Castro's book The fixed bench and the collective table, where Castro proposes changing the spatial relationship between the students and the teacher, to change the pedagogical experience. Orozco and Juanotena took these conceptions of the new school defended by Castro to renew the school buildings.[3]​.

In 1965, a special fund was created for the creation of rural schools through the Artigas Bicentennial Plan, a plan in commemoration of the birth of José Artigas.[4] Engineer Eladio Dieste made a series of suggestions to minimize the transfer of materials and allow the schools to be built by the inhabitants of the rural towns themselves, reducing the complexity and costs of the projects. This plan significantly reduced the unsanitary conditions of rural school buildings, which often consisted simply of mud and straw structures.[5]​.