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Education Institute

MGM Morales Giles Mariscal

Education Institute
By Francesco Pagliari -

The project by MGM (Morales, Giles, Mariscal) for a school in Galisteo near Cáceres in Spain’s Extremadura region was designed to conform to the gentle slope of the site. Covering a surface area of some 4000 sqm, the building adapts to the slight gradient, opening out onto the countryside and overlooking the old town centre. Stretching along the slight incline, the ground plan organizes the two aligned blocks of classrooms and laboratories, the administrative offices, staff rooms, technical plant, sports facilities and gym, as functionally separate elements connected, however, by ample patio areas. The arrangement allows optimal orientation vis-à-vis the sun of the two classroom blocks. In this way too, the connecting patios serve to shield the classrooms from outside noise and other disturbance, or from causing disturbance. Similar protection is offered by the thick walls, which also contain the children’s lockers. The south-facing distribution corridors of the classroom blocks give directly onto the patios - protected spill-over areas for children during recreation. The north-facing classroom wall receives light filtered by the patios and ensures balanced luminosity without glare. The two classroom blocks are grafted on to a corridor running north-south that in turn gives onto the washroom area, service facilities and storeroom. Administrative offices, meeting rooms and staff room are situated on the upper level. The sports facilities, indoor gym and open-air multi-purpose sports field lie along the northern perimeter of the site. They have been designed to permit independent use in a way that separates public-access areas from the rest of the school building. The outer perimeter of the building, its architectural mark, comprises a series of obliquely set steel blades embedded in a base. They allow views over the surrounding countryside and at the same time create the rhythm of the facades. The modular structural system used led to substantial labour and...

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