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Architects: Taller Síntesis
- Area: 1600 m²
- Year: 2023
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Photographs:Isaac Ramírez
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Manufacturers: AutoDesk, Chaos Group, Adobe, Trimble Navigation
Text description provided by the architects. The Chigorodó Educational Institution (I.E. Chigorodó), located in the municipality of the same name in Urabá Antioquia, is a collection of buildings constructed from the 1960s to the present, mostly through the efforts of the very community it serves. While reflecting the community's commitment to securing a future for their children, these buildings face numerous construction and technical issues, particularly related to the climate, making them unsuitable spaces for children's learning and recreational activities.
Adding to this is the fact that the local population has continued to grow, increasing the demand for the institution's capacity, which could not be met. This has forced parents to seek schools farther away, even in other municipalities, to educate their children. This situation has led the Fundrafut foundation to include I.E. Chigorodó in its improvement plan for schools in the banana-growing region of Urabá Antioquia. This long-term effort aims to restore dignity to the educational spaces in the area and to enhance them as centers of community integration that serve not only children but all members of the community.
As the initial step in the institution's improvement process, joint working sessions were held with the community to develop an architectural program reflecting the real needs of those who would ultimately use the building. The construction of four new classrooms was prioritized, increasing the school's capacity by 140 children and a coliseum that would allow for sports activities to be conducted in the shade, protecting against the region's intense sun. This coliseum would also serve as a covered plaza for all collective activities for the school and the entire area.
To these two elements, the architectural team added a set of associated bathrooms, a kitchen, a dining area to ensure the children receive proper nutrition, and a new entrance for the institution, designed to become a welcoming meeting point for everyone. Beyond addressing the programmatic needs, the central focus of our project has been to incorporate the local climate and culture into this expansion. This is a culture where life is lived outdoors, in shaded porches and thresholds, where people take advantage of the crosswinds while being protected from the heavy rains, which occur frequently throughout the year, and from the intense sun, with average temperatures of 30°C (86°F).
These intermediate spaces also encourage spontaneous interactions among the town's residents, strengthening the community. Although the master plan envisions replacing all the components of the institution, it was decided not to replace any existing structures in this first phase of intervention to avoid reducing the school's capacity. Instead, the approach was to unify the various pre-existing architectures by constructing a low, L-shaped volume that houses the dining area, services, and classrooms. Together with the existing buildings, this new structure defines a central courtyard, serving as a collective meeting space.
In the middle of this central space, the coliseum is constructed. This space, surpassing mere sports functions, is envisioned, as mentioned earlier, as a covered plaza open to the entire community. The coliseum helps define two additional areas within the large courtyard: a hard plaza connected to the entrance and a playground amidst the trees. The coliseum's placement within the institution helps maintain the low scale of the surroundings, where buildings rarely exceed a single level. Additionally, the distinctive roof design of the coliseum, setting it apart from typical coliseum structures, contributes to making it a landmark for the town's residents.
A covered area with no specific program has also been constructed as part of the courtyard spaces. This open space allows students to be outdoors, protected from the sun and rain. It is accompanied by a concrete piece of furniture that encourages various ways of using and positioning the body. Directly linked to the courtyard, the new classrooms have been designed to create informal, non-hierarchical spaces where students can gather before classes, fostering free discussion and interaction.
Like the coliseum, these classrooms open to the institution's collective spaces through permeable façades. Rather than traditional enclosed spaces, they are designed to be open to the community and the surrounding environment. Finally, a new entrance has been constructed, moving the school's boundary a few meters inward from its current limit. This adjustment creates a shaded area where parents can wait for their children and provides a permeable façade that reconnects the interior of I.E. Chigorodó with the community it is part of.
Since its inauguration, the community—not just the educational community—has intensely embraced the spaces, transforming the institution into more than just a school. It has become a community center that operates late into the night and hosts various cultural, educational, community, and sports activities in cool, shaded spaces. As previously mentioned, these spaces were designed to cater to the climate and culture of the inhabitants of Chigorodó.
Building in the tropics requires understanding the climate as a central design aspect, especially in extreme conditions like those in Urabá Antioquia. For this reason, the classrooms, coliseum, and service areas are designed with large overhangs to shield them from direct sunlight. Additionally, perforations and shutters are used to create cross-ventilation, reducing the thermal sensation inside the spaces while allowing natural light to illuminate the entire building.
For this reason, white has been chosen for the new constructions, giving the project’s light a reflected and diffused quality. The sloped roofs, which reduce future maintenance, direct rainwater to be collected and processed for the consumption of I.E. Chigorodó—a necessity in an area where water shortages are common.
