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Architects: A3gm Arquitectos
- Area: 1575 m²
- Year: 2011
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Photographs:Jesús Granada
Text description provided by the architects. The aim of the intervention is the extension of a Special Education School that consisted of two separate buildings constructed in the late seventies in an urban area that, over time, has come to occupy a central position in the city of Burgos. The new building gives the whole a common element of access and vertical communication. Its programme has to meet not only the generic needs of a school (classrooms, versatile spaces, administrative areas) but also other specific assistance requirements (stimulation classrooms, rehabilitation, hydrotherapy pool).
The building is designed with two floors of different character and geometry. The ground floor has an "L" regular shape, one of whose arms is fitted between the two existing buildings. It thus creates a spacious lobby as a space for access and relationship among the parts of the whole. At this level, dependencies that require more space are placed. The gym, housed in the southwest corner, takes a more prominent volumetric role.
The first floor on the other hand has a more free form. It is the result of the addition of parallelepipeds that are to a great extent set back of the perimeter of the ground floor roof. These volumes house spaces with a lower size requirement and are articulated through a central corridor that ends up turning on the main facade, on a glass walkway that connects the whole at this level.
The analysis of the contributions of the intervention can be approached from the study of environmental and socio-economic sustainability of the operation.
Environmental sustainability: The search of specific strategies from sustainable architecture was present in both the project approach and the constructive solutions. It incorporates mechanisms that result in energy efficiency, prioritizes the use of environmentally friendly systems and uses as far as possible recycled and recyclable materials. An evidence of the commitment to these criteria is the Grade "B" Finished Building Energy Efficiency and the award obtained in the 4th Edition of the Sustainable Construction Awards of Castile and Leon.
Socio-economic sustainability: The decision to rehabilitate against relocating a care facility usually relegated to suburban areas has a positive impact on the social and educational. By preserving the site of the Special Education School in a busy area of the city it has been preserved also the favorable conditions enjoyed by students with particular needs for integration. On the other hand, we believe that the intervention protects the consolidation of the urban, needed to keep equipment in central areas.
If we look at economic criteria, the use of the built heritage and the updating and enhancement of existing facilities results in the sustainability of the intervention. The strategy of "building recycling", to our knowledge, rationalizes the use of material resources.
.jpg?1377830165 "Extension Of The Fray Pedro Ponce De Leon Special Education School / A3gm Arquitectos")
