Description

The district of Arcosur is the final piece of a residential urban development south of Zaragoza. However, ten years after the global financial crisis and the Spanish property crisis, only 2500 of the 22,000 flats originally planned have been built. Arcosur is separated from the city by an abrupt change in topography and inhospitable surroundings. In the 435-hectare large neighbourhood, the streets have been laid out and developed without any order. The city of Zaragoza has since started working to change this situation. The school complex is located on the main axis that connects it to the city. Given that the surrounding area was still in the early stages of development, wider project planning was difficult as it could not base any expectations on an unpredictable future. Instead, the project emancipates itself from its surroundings while contributing to the formation of the identity of Arcosur during the transitional period.

In an effort to distinguish itself from its charmless environment, but at the same time to signal that what lies within is exceptional, the architects have enclosed the school in a continuous and variously opaque exterior that varies according to function, sometimes expressed as a fence, and sometimes as the façade of the school. This outer enclosure takes up differences in the height of the terrain, creating a continuous, reference line above which an artificial topography of roof modules can be seen. The arrangement of the roofs contrast with the hermetic austerity of the enclosure, their different-angled sheet metal pitched roofs recalling collections of gabled roofs. Similarly, while the pale pink concrete of the walls – the same colour as the pavements in Arcosur – convey a sense of solidity and mass, the metal fence is a partially transparent layer that encloses passages behind or provides glimpses into the inner courtyards where the dynamism of the façade can be seen continuing within. The long, narrow courtyards as well as the two main courtyards – the entrance court and the playground – each have their own visual language, a product of the different-coloured wood veneers used, the vegetation and the windows, which contrast with the materials of the exterior, concrete and metal.

The main courtyards also contribute to the organisation of the modules that make up the school. The nine classrooms are arranged around the main playground, which forms the centre of the building. Both courtyards allude to the architecture of plazas in Spanish cities and are surrounded by a perimeter arcade with a sloping roof that, like a Roman impluvium, provide shelter from the rain, and more importantly from the strong sunlight more typical of Zaragoza. Each classroom module is a rectangular block of at least 9 × 7.2 metres separated from the next by toilet blocks. The angular roof shape results from raising one corner of the module, creating a minimal increase in volume which is ideal for classroom scenarios: the sloping surfaces are clad in sound-absorbing material and the increased height reduces the reverberation level to a minimum. At the same time the raised height makes it possible to install a high side window, transforming the roof into a further façade of the classroom that provides dual aspect illumination and cross ventilation, thereby avoiding the stale atmosphere and subdued light seen in many schools.

These minimal modules also define the floor plan. At their corners, they are set back to create broad entrances. Rotating the modules also breaks the rigidity of the classroom structure, creating wider and narrow spaces along the corridors. The courtyards also help highlight the wider spaces in the corridors, so that they become places that the children occupy and fill with activities. As such, the corridors become more than mere circulation spaces. The height of 1.20 metres – the height of the children – serves as a reference line for the school interior. Everything below it is designed with children’s needs in mind and denoted by a different surface treatment: a continuous waterproof, easy to clean, pale earth-like colour. The “adult world” of white plastered surfaces begins above. The folding roofscape creates a sense of generous space and improves the indoor air while affording additional, varying illumination.

Originally published in Bauwelt 2.2020, pp. 24-29, abridged and edited for Building Types online, translated by Julian Reisenberger

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