ELEMENTARY AND PRIMARY SCHOOL

LOCATION TORELLÓ, SPAIN DEVELOPER DEPARTAMENT D’EDUCACIÓ – GISA AREA 3.750 M2 BUDGET 6.076.000EUR YEAR 2009-2011

The site for this elementary and primary school in Torelló, a town some 60 km north of Barcelona, is at the edge of a new urban development. It articulates a single-family housing neighborhood with an adjoining industrial area, separated from the school by a green area. We place the building as a hinge between both areas, giving to it the maximum length in order to enhance its public role. Using the natural slope of the site, we separate the entrances for the small kids in the kindergarten from the older boys of the elementary and primary modules. We place the kindergarten entrance at the lowest level, with a direct access to the interior open courts, and the primary entrance one floor above, related with an ample open space onto the street.

Given the relatively small size of the site, we chose a very compact layout that occupies a minimum area and maximizes the available open spaces. This compactness is pierced in several places by open courtyards that relate the interior corridors with the exterior areas and generate informal meeting spaces. The whole building is built using industrialized techniques in order to control quality and shorten the construction period to10 months. Extensive use of EMBA-designed prefabricated structure and façade elements, and factory-made window units and aluminum complements, have contributed to this short period while assuring good quality finishes.

EMBA ENRIC MASSIP-BOSCH, PRINCIPAL; MARC RIFÀ-ROVIRA (PROJECT DIRECTOR); ANGELICA FLORIDDIA, CORNELIA MEMM, ESTEVE SOLÀ, LAURA GÓMEZ, MARTA MARCET, MARIA DURAN, INMA RODRÍGUEZ (ARCHITECTS) MODELS EMBA_ELOI HORTONEDA