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Architects: Josep Val Ravell + Arnau Solé Simón
- Area: 2990 m²
- Year: 2016
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Photographs:Simon Garcia
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Manufacturers: Geo Hidrol, Klinker Covadonga, Parex-Group, Porosonic
Secondary School in Cabrils
The new Secondary School is located at the entrance to the town of Cabrils, very close to Barcelona. As you enter the village, it is the first of a series of facilities (school, sports center ...) located along the road following the riverbed.
The sea and the mountain range parallel to the coast characterize an extremely urbanized and altered by man place. It is a boundary area between the fields and greenhouses that escaped urban development, and the villages, houses in row and sparsely inhabited housing estates that cover the lower part of the mountain, with the sea visible on the horizon.
The building was designed to accommodate a very specific and strict functional programme, as well as the need to release as much free space as possible for the playground and to enable a future growth. With these premises was conceived a 100m long piece parallel to the access road to the village and to the stream that descends towards the sea. The difference between the two ends exceeds one floor height.
Hence, the first architectural decision is taken with the aim of a better integration of the school into the urban surroundings:
The fragmentation of the volume. With a strategy of setbacks, the large volume it’s broken, introducing a vertical component and generating smaller planes closer to the scale of the nearby homes.
On the courtyard façade, according to what’s happening inside, the volume is broken in larger pieces of diferent materials.
A white volume. It seemed appropriate to use white in order to highlight the different volumes that cast shadows on one another. Preserving this way a Mediterranean tradition of smooth white volumes bathed in sunlight that characterizes de zone.
A coloured base. For technical reasons, such as resistance and durability, but also because of a dimension and proportions issue, the white volume needed a base.
The yellow base becomes the focal point.
The yellow base becomes the focal point. Highlighting the building entrance and as a gateway to the village, the coloured base rises in high until covering the entire façade. The yellow base becomes the head and most singular part of the building.
Highlighting the building entrance and as a gateway to the village, the coloured base rises in high until covering the entire façade. The yellow base becomes the head and most singular part of the building.
