ARX

The plot designated for the School is located on the outskirts of the city of Barreiro. These are rural territories overtaken by recent construction that cuts across vegetable plots and reed beds. Given the predominance of housing, with no provision made for integrating other functions, this neighbourhood is today a dormitory suburb with little urban life. The site is large, with a gentle slope well suited to its configuration (a 4 m difference in level between the northern and southern boundaries), and at one of its ends there is a dense wood of sizeable cork oaks and pine trees.

Some projects provoke public reactions even before they exist, and sometimes it is there that they find much of their material for reflection. This school is one such example. The residents of the surrounding "neighbourhood" protested against its construction because they wanted a primary school, which had been relocated elsewhere, but also out of fear of the visual impact of a large-scale building and in the expectation that trees would be felled. They therefore decided to count and mark every single one of them.

We sought to give the building an ambiguous character. On the one hand, it "dissolves" and accepts the prevalence of the natural elements; on the other, it asserts its presence as an artificial element of an abstract nature. This principle is underlined by the construction choices: a large anthracite block which, when sectioned, reveals a white interior.

At one end of the building, the architecture takes on a more topographical character, where it is unclear where the surroundings truly begin and end; at the opposite end, its boundary is more present, defined by the alignment of the ends of the building's different volumes.

The building is positioned at the centre of the site. The northern third was reserved for parking and the main entrance, while to the south the wood ceases to be a confined strip, now extending around and over the building. From the ensemble, one volume rises in height, housing the teaching staff, marking its presence from greater distances and establishing a new urban landmark.