Description

This is a school for a small tourist town on a beautiful site. The architectural concept relates closely to the topography of the site, a ravine running down to the sea, which bisects two hills, where the residential communities are located. The building is organised around a series of linked courtyards surrounded by small-scale villa style pavilions, reflecting the local domestic architectural style.

Buildings step up the hill, as does the courtyard itself, which allows panoramic views towards the sea. According to the designers, the form of the building is focused towards the outside spaces: an entrance plaza defined by the administration and library wings, an amphitheatre, leading from the entrance to the main piazza, a ‘town square’, which is a communal plaza surrounded by classroom clusters and finally a small patio space servicing the early years accommodation. This terminology helps to define the architectural concept, creating a tight urban configuration, which feels secure and communal.

The organisation of each element of the accommodation is controlled to create distinct functional zones, which are nevertheless part of a coherent whole. The entrance is at the bottom of the hill with the administration and library wing forming a semi-enclosed court where the children arrive. The entrance lobby is at the knuckle of these two wings. Beyond is the amphitheatre serving as a communal space where the whole school community can meet With its picturesque backdrop of the ocean beyond, it is a striking space, which exploits this romantic setting to the full. Access to the next level, the communal court around which the main classroom clusters are grouped, is via ramped, stepped colonnades on either side of the amphitheatre. Each classroom has a ‘private court’ running around the exterior of the buildings, an additional external area away from the communal courtyards on the inside of the scheme. This then leads onto the junior courts servicing the early years unit.

The pedagogic concept was a key aspect of the architectural strategy. This is intended to balance the traditional closed classroom approach with a more open-plan communal idea. Pupils are divided into three age groups each with a distinctly defined communal ‘home’ zone.

This has resulted in a school, which is infinitely flexible, yet one, which does not create too many distractions for the children. This can be appreciated particularly in the classroom clusters: there are solid dividing walls between each classroom, a window wall and door opening to a private outdoor court on the outside wall and a clear opening to a common area on the fourth internal wall. The sense of belonging to a series of variously structured groups which range in size from the small class group to the whole school has been carefully choreographed. It forms an architectural and pedagogic structure which encourages friendships across the age ranges, a true curriculum of citizenship.

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Originally published in: Mark Dudek, Schools and Kindergartens: A Design Manual, Birkhäuser, 2015.