School Dra. Sara Faisal Nº1429
Working with pre-existences usually demands very particular challenges. Special School Dra. Sara Faisal Nº1429 in the city of Santa Fe, Argentina, is were the Women's Association of Professionals assists in their human and pedagogical development to children and young people with multiple pathologies and special needs from 3 to 21 years old.
In the site there were some randome buildings constructed over many years. One built in the 1980s was arranged obliquely constituting a strong conditioning factor since then. In more recent years, the construction of a multipurpose room remained unfinished.
The initial objective was simple: to generate a semi-covered connection between the existing buildings and to finish the multipurpose room with its equipment.
The study of the pre-existences and the educational community needs showed that the institution did not have administrative offices or an adequate entry space in terms of accessibility / functionality nor spatial articulation between its interior and exterior spaces or with it´s environment on an urban scale.
The project proposal for these almost 2,000 m2 of intervention acquired an integral and integrating character that was articulated through 3 strategies that can be synthesized in: roofing - promenade – color.
A first operation of subtraction of volumes corresponding to the mass of the oblique classroom allowed to generate the spatial openings to integrate the entrance, new classrooms and adapted sanitary facilities and the administrative offices with full views to the main patio. Also led to delineate the cloister gallery.
In this way, the multipurpose room took center stage in the project and its roof became the main spatial integration element both inwards to the variuos school buildings and outwards to the urban environment.
Secondly, the spatial configuration of the cloister was achieved with the roof of the gallery and the harmonization of the unevenness of groundfloor levels with new floorings that allow a fluid promenade along a rhythm of oblique linear elements of color which support the roof and give a playful character to the spatial limit perceived alternately as a plot and as a plane.
As the third axis of spatial configuration, the analogy of warm colors applied to the upper envelope of the multipurpose room, the chromatic rhythm of cloister gallery and the doors of the classrooms and administrative offices provides a warm and playful atmosphere. That, together with the transparencies that operate both inwards and outwards, shows the spirit of work, optimism and self-improvement beyond the difficulties of this educational community.
