Description
Escola Secundaria D. Dinis was one of four schools completed in the first phase of the Portuguese Government’s Secondary School Modernisation Programme [SMP] of 2007. This programme was run by Parque Escolar EPE, an autonomous government agency, and sought to refurbish and modernise over 300 schools by 2015. Although the programme was suspended in 2011 it has produced some remarkable results.
The original building is typical of nearly 70% of modern Portuguese secondary schools. Constructed in the 1970s, it was based on a series of simple metal-framed pavilions. These buildings were often poorly insulated, both thermally and acoustically. The pavilions were separated from each other, linked by external canopies, causing functional and programmatic issues. Bak Gordon’s proposals sought to develop a response that could be repeated with ease at other schools of a similar nature.
The resulting building weaves its way between the older pavilions, connecting in turn to each. The new central building houses communal functions that were either separated from the pavilions or absent all together. The new block steps down the site from single storey to the north to a double-height structure at the south accommodating a new large auditorium. Other facilities housed within it include a library, study areas and departmental support rooms. The building becomes the physical and metaphorical heart of the school, giving the previously disparate campus much greater focus.
The building is materially very simple. A steel frame structure was chosen for the necessity of fast construction time as much as for economic reasons. This is then covered in a robust insulated steel cladding. The white of the cladding externally marries the school to the surrounding pavilions, which in turn have been insulated and painted white. Internally a new red floor flows through old and new, again helping to unify the campus. The existing pavilions have also been reglazed to ensure further continuity in both visual quality and energy performance between old and new.
Drawings
1:2000
Photos
Exterior view
Interior view
Originally published in: Prue Chiles (ed.), Leo Care, Howard Evans, Anna Holder, Claire Kemp, Building Schools: Key Issues for Contemporary Design, Birkhäuser, 2015.