School in Campinas, Brazil : Architecture Information

School in Campinas, Brasil 2004 UNA arquitetos Photos : Nelson Kon The School in Campinas integrates a pilot program of the São Paulo state government for the construction of schools using structural systems of pre-moulded concrete, as an alternative to the present low quality system of standard schools. With a very strict budget, the building costs were 235 € per square meter. Situated in a big housing complex, destitute of any urbanistic or architectonic quality, in the surroundings of Campinas, the site, with two corners and quite meager dimensions for the proposed program, was essential to determine the compact and vertical plan. The two accesses correspond to the two corners and are marked by the gaps which separate the volume of the classrooms from the side gables. The indoor sports court was incorporated to the volume on the top of the building, allowing for the almost totality of the ground floor to be liberated for the gardens and entertainment facilities. The plan is organized by a central corridor articulated in its two extremities with open stairs which interconnect the four floors. The closing of the sides of this court, done with translucent plastic shutters, was extended to the façade of the classrooms in the format of brise soleil. It was, thus, possible to adjust a large volume which becomes white and opaque during the day and luminous during the night, a remarkable reference amongst the vast homogeneity of the housing complex. photo : Carlos Kipnis