The mission: to design a Student Center where the Karl C. Parrish School students can eat, rest and have fun, and making it the guardian of the Ceiba trees that surround the premises. The vision: to elevate a visually disruptive volume that breaks the classic architecture around it while fulfilling its duty of being a dynamic den to become an icon that would represent the new generation.
This project implanted within the existing campus, landed on Diseños y Conceptos Inteligentes (DCI) and Design Engineering and Building Consulting (DEB). Since 2017 the latter firm has been known for its architecture with defiant touches. Playing home court, architects Ricardo Vives (DCI) and Francisco Ricardo Marino (DEB) took the time to study the grounds, its visuals, how the light travels from dusk till dawn, and specially the role it plays with nature during the day.
The KPC ́S Student Center is a volume with an approximate area of 759 square meters that can hold up to 300 people between students, teachers, parents, workers and visitors. It works as a maximized gallery mainly because of its pavilion design that borders modern architecture with a brutalist one. It’s thermos-acoustic floor to ceiling picture windows work as the glue that holds the cement arches together which recalls the architectural design ́s original inspiration while visually maintaining the openness relation with the campus. This building that in minutes goes from a peaceful and fresh lounge to a frenzy school ́s lunch time cafeteria filled with students and teachers is a space where architecture and design naturally interact with the people who live it.
Text and photography with Monica Barreneche.
Project in collaboration with Ricardo Vives Guerra.