Badia i Margarit Institute / GATPA

Badia i Margarit Institute / GATPA

Textual content description offered by the architects. The college is in Igualada, a small inland metropolis in Catalonia. It has a barely extra humid and colder local weather than litoral cities. Enric Miralles is buried there. The river Anoia passes round it. An enormous textile and tannery business was developed within the XIXth century by the river, bringing with it prosperity and inhabitants development. It was virtually completely dismantled over the past a part of the XXth century.

The college must develop its highschool part. The gymnasium and some lecture rooms in the old fashioned additionally want restore. A public two-phase architectural competitors was organised by the Catalan authorities, which we received.

The one obtainable spot is a skinny lengthy stretch of land with a east-west orientation parallel to the riera d’Òdena beneath. There’s a steep slope between them. It’s adjoining to the gymnasium, however remoted from the remainder of the varsity. The old-fashioned has an in-situ forged concrete construction, with brick partitions coated in some elements with inexperienced tiles.

How you can join the brand new and outdated buildings whereas giving a large enough playground and optimum orientation to the brand new constructing? There’s additionally an outdated pathway that comes up from the river, which might be attention-grabbing to take care of.

The primary resolution is to make lengthy and slender rectangular prism tangent to the general public sq. on the west in order that it frees as a lot playground to the east as potential. The structural spans and orthogonal form of the brand new quantity enable for an simply prefabricated concrete construction, made simply 70 kms. away. Termoarcilla partitions enable us to construct membranes with completely different porosities in line with the orientation and indoor program wants, from ventilated facades to lattices. Inside this compact physique, two courtyards deliver a greater solar orientation for the lecture rooms. A lightweight metal construction bridges and connects the brand new highschool, the refurbished fitness center and the old fashioned on the first-floor degree. Beneath it, a porch that’s the new gateway to the place.