HIGH SCHOOL OF ARTS

Narratives

Architect Narrative

The building is located in a developing area. Since the residential environment has not architectural value, the school was projected to break this scenery, to inject cultural life in the neighbourhood and to generate creativity and thoughts. As a result its design is now attracting not only the students but also the rest of the community.

The concept is based in a curvilinear spine which led to the main access; 2 hard and introverted volumes are joined to it, hiding inside an open courtyard.

Balconies and openings are overturned to this sinuous street, which goes all through over the school.

Exterior and interior are merged in the same educative concept. All the school contributes to it without limits: classrooms and corridors interact and complement each other, enriching the educative process.

The tension has repercussions on the building deformation with its wavy and vibrating zinc skin, hurt by a curtain wall with irregular form, strengthening its language of transparency.

Pedagogical wings float in the ludic spaces of the bright circulations, which have been treated to let communication, to share, see and be seen and why not, for the enjoyment.

The sinuous encircling of the zinc facade in a perfect harmony with the prismatic volumes of the pre-made concrete panels, emphasizes an industrial air, letting the two materials (concrete and zinc) to generate a container that contributes to boost the creativity of the young people and looking like a “dreams factory”.

The school is developed in pedagogical wings in the 1st and 2nd floor which are oriented to the south-southeast and protected with oriented shutters. Bright circulations are located in the north side, letting the enjoyment in the opening spaces of the scenery. Those circulations conclude in the emergency external stairs, making easy the evacuation of the students.

The classrooms-workshops are located in the ground floor since the machineries to work sculptures, engravings and carvings are very heavy.

The library and the lecture hall count with an independent access and WC to be used out of the school hours.

The lecture hall serves for different activities (conferences, exhibitions, etc) since its furniture can be hidden quickly and turning it into a diaphanous room. At the same time its sliding doors can be integrated with the circulations that also can be used as areas for additional exhibitions.

As for the internal quality of the spaces, they were projected to receive maintenance easily and with durability: the classrooms are covered with acoustic panels to avoid resonance, the floors are made of polished concrete with epoxies resins and the roofing is made of alveolar slabs.

The coordination between the educative department, teachers and designers was intense, since it was the first high school to teach arts in the region. There were not a clear idea about the educative program to be developed, but the final image of the building contributed to define the subjects to impart in the centre.

Educator Narrative

EDUCATOR NARRATIVE

The building is a landmark in the profile of the city and with a notable absence of singular buildings. The institution is pioneer as Arts and Design School in the city and the image of the container is being assumed consequently by the community.

It could be considered a visual metaphor as the wavy forms of the façade contribute to evoke the liberty that should rule in a creative activity and in contrast with the net and straight volumes of its classrooms, workshops, and the library, indicating us that the work carried out in its interior is rigorous and flat.

From inside, it opens and fuses us with the garden and makes the environment to take part of the school reminding us the social task of the education. This action from the curtain wall doing the function of separation and link of union simultaneously, serves us as a didactic resource when multiplies the points of view on the design and the function of the artistic point.

The boldness using colours that can be seen from outside, adds the imaginative touch that characterizes the artistic work and improve the pedagogical function.

As for the daily routine of the educational activity, its notable the sensation of unique space that can be felt working in its interior especially due to the quantity and variety of openings connecting all the spaces. This characteristic does not damage the sufficient seclusion of the classrooms and workshops to carry out independent activities without interfere neither to bother the rest.

The staircase on its route through the façade, adds a leading plastic part to its organizer axis role of the building activity in vertical sense. It is a special element that attracts and directs not only the eyes, but also the circulation toward common areas in an integrative eagerness of the cohabitation.

The evidence of the materials used for the construction, the exhibition of their qualities without hiding the tectonic problems and showing the chosen solutions, are characteristics that guide the teaching of arts and they serve as pedagogical routes.

The conception of multipurpose and polyvalent spaces as the classrooms and workshops and above all the lecture hall / exhibition room and the possibilities of extension, favour the versatility of their functions.

To conclude this summary we should emphasize the brightness and the happiness in the different spaces. The corridors are welcoming and bright, letting the visual connexion to the both wings of the building.