LOCAL MATERIALS, COURTYARD, EXPANDABLE
The most important fact for the project was that the land on which it would be built had a great number of mature trees. So we proposed to strategically locate the building seeking not to throw any of these trees. That generates an access to the building in the middle of the trees in order to isolate the building to the street creating a garden access and then generate a block in an ai???Lai??? form embracing an inner garden and separating and defining the vehicular access from the garden and playground for children.
The inner garden is the central part of the project and gives the sensation of being in a small forest, which is filtering through large windows into the building creating a constant relationship between internal activities and nature.
As a principle of sustainability we kept all adult trees cause they generate great benefits to the building providing shade throughout the day as well as generating a fresh atmosphere and clean air. The orientation of the building is very important: the inner garden filters natural light into the spaces.
Due to the budget the project theme is built with simple and economic materials and highly industrialized in the town, seeking to promote the local workforce (blacksmithing, carpentry, and industrial materials) and the production and use of cheap materials. It was decided to make a structure of steel frame, metal decks collaborating with concrete slabs and concrete block walls.
As the exterior finish was implemented a ventilated fa ade, using sheets made of corrugated and perforated steel that are placed in the upper part around the building. This fa ade is separated from the walls with a sub-structure to generate natural ventilation between the metal skin and the walls and also to provide shade and protection for the solar incidence. Avoid heating of the exterior walls was important in the project because the extreme climate of the city of Monterrey.
To achieve this metal skin for the facade it was found a small local company that has drilling machinery to produce parts for automotive and metal-mechanical industries. Seeing the potential for Architecture of these processes of productions for parts we decided to make tests with their equipment for the manufacture of perforated sheets for the metal skin of the fa ade that became a topic of architectural identity in the perception of the building itself.
Architects: S-AR
Project name: Docet Institute
Project year: 2009
Construction: 2010
Location: Monterrey, Mexico
Client: Instituto Docet EducarUno
Project team: C sar Guerrero, Ana Cecilia Garza, Mar a Sevilla, Carlos Flores.
Programme: Preschool
Area: 900 m2
Photographs: Ana Cecilia Garza Villarreal
