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Architects: Atelier Ander Bados, Betsaida Curto Reyes
- Area: 760 m²
- Year: 2022
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Photographs:Eleazar Cuadros
Text description provided by the architects. Villacuri is the result of an invasion that began 25 years ago, made up mainly of immigrants from the mountains and jungle. It is, for the most part, an area of temporary housing with hardly any urban planning. It is located in the Peruvian desert, halfway between Ica and Paracas and next to the Panamericana Sur highway.
For the driver, this town does not exist, it is a non-place. It seems that there are only a few informal businesses, taking advantage of the obligatory toll booth. If the driver went deeper, he would discover a town much larger than thought, but practically deserted during the day.
A place with thousands of inhabitants who work from sunrise to sunset in the adjoining agro-export companies. But at night, Villacuri comes alive, the workers return to their makeshift homes, shops, and restaurants.
The problem with this population, inhabited by the most vulnerable, is the little attention received by governments. The initial school was never rebuilt after the 2007 earthquake, so its more than 300 students have been teaching for years in prefabricated classrooms, where conditions are difficult for learning.
In 2019 the NGO All Hands and Hearts decided to rebuild this initial school since the government did not prioritize its reconstruction. We find ourselves in an environment whose identity is formed by many different cultures. The urban fabric is defined as organized anarchy, created with different construction techniques that depend on the geographical origin of the person who builds it: Mats, cane brava, concrete, brick, wood... Such diverse identities have created a new characteristic personality of this place.
The plot of the project has adjusted dimensions, for this reason, we propose a grid of spaces with proportional dimensions that generate a game of solids and voids. The full ones accommodate the 7 classrooms and the service building (bathrooms, kitchen, and spaces for teachers). The voids create spaces that complement the teaching activity and are inserted between the buildings, giving relief to the plot. These areas are marked by key elements: shadows, benches, and olive trees. They are, in the end, classrooms without walls.
The constructive solution comes from the community itself, which understands its environment as valuable. The common denominator among all the constructions is the use of materials without coating, for the economy. So we adopted it as a project concept. We promote materials as they are; exposed brick exposed concrete, mat, cane brava, and wood. This represents significant savings while continuing to add value to the building. The sincerity of the material in its natural state helps the community to feel more identified with the school and dignified with the local construction methods.
One of the fundamental concerns is the need to combat the high temperatures of the desert that can reach 45°C. We re-interpret the traditional Ica roofs formed by an air chamber between two roofs. Under the concrete slab, we use a continuous plank of cane brava that generates a ventilated air chamber inside. Its extension generates elements of shadow on the outside. This, along with cross ventilation, helps to reduce interior temperatures considerably.
The wild cane and the mat, local and traditional materials, are unifying elements in the project. We use it as closure, shadow, and compartmentalization. In the project, we value and enhance the hardness of the environment with textures and materials. The school does not stop being a careful continuity of the context: mats, olive trees, wild cane, yuccas, land... this is the soul of Villacuri.
