Pepe Gascon Arquitectura: http://www.pepegascon.com
RHYTHM , SOCIAL, TRIANGULAR VOLUME
Apart from its mere built container, a school is nothing more than a place where teaching and learning take place. This project, therefore, reflects the desire to interact with the city, revealing the flows and activities that occur within the immediate environment of the site. Moreover, this school converges with the work of the Xamfr Sant Miquel Foundation, which is devoted to preparing young people from 16 to 20 years with mild mental disabilities for integration into employment: we are committed to integrating its pupils into society and work so that they form part of the social fabric. In view of this goal of generating relations, the structure of the new building is resolved by a rhythmic sequence of slender perimeter ribs, which line the building front. This solution creates better-lighted, more open and highly versatile spaces. However, above all, it generates a front that is permeable in both directions: from the school towards the city, and from the city to the interior spaces. The project employs volumetric force to resolve the complex, irregular geometry of the site. For instance, a triangular volume, with ground floor and basement, adjoins the north side (providing optimal lighting for study), whilst the rectangle of the existing building occupies the east corner. The triangular extension is lowrise in order to minimise the environmental impact of new works. Finally, a courtyard provides the rooms in the basement with natural light and ventilation. All routes through the common zones in the school (stairs, landings, corridors and vestibules) are designed to become ai???places of social attractionai??? spaces for encounters, meetings and exchanges, generously proportioned, enjoying natural lighting and, always, open to the city as backdrop.
Location: Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain
Architecture: Pepe GascA?n (Pepe GascA?n Arquitectura)
Collaborators: JesA?s Gallego, Mireia Cases
Client: Municipality of Sant Feliu de Llobregat (Barcelona), Spain
Contractor: XEDEX, SA (Barcelona), Spain
Photography: Jos Hevia
Project year: 2010
Completion date: October 2011
Project area: 1492, 75 m2
Cost: 1.765.329, 75
Other collaborators: Jordi Escofet (engineer) Estudio de arquitectura e ingenier a DCE 2002, SL (structural engineering)
