Description

One of the recurring questions within this case study section is how one can create an environment which is humane and user friendly when the pupil intake is so huge. Many contemporary secondary school architects grapple with the problem of scale especially when the new building is due to be located on a single, edge of town site, which may be replacing a number of smaller buildings previously situated on separate lots in the town centre. As many new secondary schools are completed to tight budgets, the scale problem is often handled with limited success. In the case of Rafael Arozarena High School, the constraints of the site and the careful consideration of the historical context have created a building, which is both contextual and user friendly whilst clearly expressing its important institutional presence within the community. The architects have worked with the existing urban framework, the historic town of La Orotava, on a number of important levels. Firstly, the existing site is characterised by former wine growing terraced slopes with attractive stone retaining walls and stone paths crisscrossing the entire site. The new building in reinforced concrete and large spans of structural steel appears to rest lightly on top of these walls; they are an important memory of what was there before according to the architects, so rather than obliterating these obsolete structures, they are retained and restored. The new building appears to rest on them at some points and passes over them at others, allowing the land to flow under the building, enclosing external spaces where necessary into the fabric of the new, integrating the old with the new. The concrete structure is colour washed in various shades to both blend in and communicate important functional messages about the various zones of the new building to the student body.

Furthermore the entrance has been placed on an axis with the important edifice of Calle Colegio and with the historic church and medieval buildings of Calle S. Francisco. There is only one reasonably accessible road from the existing network of streets connecting the school to the old town. This road is the main collection point for the largest number of students arriving in the mornings; therefore its termination marks the main entrance to the school. One arrives by ascending a ramp up to the school’s main hall where the entrance lobby, porter’s office, administration offices and library are positioned. The library is adjacent to the main entrance and placed strategically so that the inhabitants of La Oratava cannot just see it but can also access it outside of school hours. The new library has become an important community facility and is in almost constant use.

Because of the site, which slopes down from this entrance point, most of the school’s teaching spaces are located on the two floors immediately below the entrance level. On the first lower level of accommodation, there are general teaching classrooms facing southeast (back towards the town), with special classrooms facing out in the opposite direction towards the open countryside beyond. On the second lower floor there are science laboratories and the sixth form computer room with spaces for vocational training, student social areas and workshops, which have direct access to the outside areas. There is a large gymnasium which is positioned at the northern end of the plan (and at an even lower level). In order to disguise its bulk and so as not to obscure views towards the sea from the upper terraces, it is half buried in the slope of the hillside to create a building which utilises the marvellous orientation to best effect. This is not a cheap building, the extent of engineering ground works has seen to that, and the end result is a stylish, often spectacular agglomeration of dramatic forms and colliding geometries which step down the hillside to diminish its scale and general impact on the landscape without compromising the overall architectural drama of the composition. This is particularly the case when seen from the town side. The building emerges gradually on approaching the site, with the entrance level seemingly balanced across the lower supporting structure, which is hidden from view. The entrance is linked by a tapering access bridge. Here the symbolism is clear, students are leaving a world of heavy traditional architecture (of the old town) for something altogether lighter and more futuristic, an island of educational experience.

When the entire building is visible from the bottom of the slope, subtle earth coloured washes (both outside and inside) render different parts of the building with a particular spatial quality to effectively break the scale down further and assist students in finding their way around. Everywhere there are distant views of the landscape beyond, framed by openable windows or from airy stair and roof terraces, which provide students with break-out areas, fresh air and a constant experience of the dramatic surrounding landscape. Everything works in a complementary way, with calm cool interiors which function as internalised boxes for concentrated learning when required, and conversely, with engaging communal areas which act as informal meeting points for the school community. On many levels, the Rafael Arozarena High School is an exemplary case of contemporary school design.

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