The
commission is originated by the need from the school to augment the total
surface of the courtyard that due to the great amount of students and parents
that usually gather during the day, can sometimes obstruct the correct
developing of the sports and leisure activities that should take place in it.
The
courtyard is 33 meters wide per 35 meters long and has a South East
Orientation. It is formed by the existing school that has a U form with two
wings, one from the 50´s and another one form the 70´s.
The fact
of being a school meant that we had to accomplish the building works
exclusively during the summer months. That fact made immediately think about a
prefabricated concrete structure that could be built in a couple of days, and
that could also solve the 13 meters distance that we wanted to cover in the
ground level.
The
necessary elimination of the two existing trees in the courtyard gave another
of the key drivers of the project; the inclusion of vegetation in the new
structure. To do so we have designed a 70 metres long corten steel flower pot
from which almost three hundreds of ivy plants grow, that in a few years will
have covered the whole metallic bubble.
That
metallic bubble is formed with a double layer of galvanized steel, so one of
the layers can help the ivy grow while the other one can resist the practice of
teenager ball-related sports.
The
ground level hosts a garden-bench with an organic shape that includes different
species of plants and allows the parents and the students to sit down and
observe.
The
relation of the new volume with the rest of the school also had to be solved,
for which a soft 45-meter ramp was designed to connect the ground level with an
intermediate level and the elevated court.
Another
organic ramp was also included to let the children from the infantile area get
out to their courtyard´s zone, also in the ground level and partly under the
court.
The later visits to the
school have revealed the success of the project and its fast iconic
assimilation by the students, who have kindly called it “The Whale”.

Links:
- https://vimeo.com/95850416