Design intentions
This public school creates a continuous environment, which is variable in form and scale and seeks to engage the community. The site is small, so we had to design the school in three levels to allow for a large courtyard. The existing slope let us divide the courtyard in terraces, from an open soccer field to 3 different playgrounds; and it suggested us to work with split levels in the building, which are close to children´s scale. The school building is a coherent system formed by different sectors. There are four classroom clusters (of different sizes, heights and color-coded identities) with subtle formal distortions seeking the best views. These clusters are unified by a triple height atrium, which flows among the volumes and integrate the educational community. Classrooms volumes are transparent to that common space and most are elevated by columns to achieve a free ground floor. This lower floor has subtle differences in levels that suggest different shared facilities (access, atrium/multipurpose area and dining common), but maintain them flexible and allow them to expand or shrink.