Set against a background of mature trees in rural Portugal, this principal school is separated into a series of brick structures intended to assist fragment the developing and lessen its affect on the landscape .
Lisbon-primarily based architect Miguel Marcelino created the major school and kindergarten for 300 youngsters in Fonte de Angeão, a parish in the Portuguese municipality of Vagos.
Rows of little brick cuboids protrude from the 4 sides of the Fonte de Angeão College. Every single a single contains a single classroom, linked to the rest of the school by a glazed corridor that runs all around a gymnasium at the heart of the program.
“The out-shape consequence of this gesture provides an image of a fragmented creating that is a lot a lot more gentle to this kind of landscape than a single massive volume,” explained Marcelino.
“However you don’t drop the wholeness and character of the developing.”
The blocks have strategically placed windows that are intended to heighten rather than distract pupils’ attention.
Kindergarten rooms feature glazed walls that open onto garden patios, even though classrooms for older kids have opaque walls to inspire an “ambiance of concentration”.
Windows are positioned on the side walls of these classrooms. They encounter into little courtyards created between the protruding blocks to minimise distractions while still providing natural light.
Associated story: College gymnasium by URA nestles into the landscape at a Belgian college
“The thought was to create an environment of concentration for the first years of primary college but maintaining a special website link to the outside surrounding,” Marcelino told Dezeen.
“We created these type of personal courtyards for each classroom,” additional the architect, whose prior tasks include a Lisbon house featuring three courtyards and a property built on the roof of an outdated warehouse.
“In some many years vegetation will expand on the front walls like a private garden,” he mentioned.
Inside, pipework, cable trays and other technical specifics are left exposed across the ceilings and walls of the gymnasium and canteen, while strip lights jut from the ceilings of classrooms.
“We prevented the traditional separation among architecture and construction,” said Marcelino. “Inside you can see and touch the concrete walls, outdoors you have exposed grey brick protecting the thermal insulation.”
“Like classical musical instruments, we experimented with to develop an ‘object’ that assumes the trueness to its mechanic, and exhibits it without shame,” he extra.
“So, the building companies and concrete structure is as much a protagonist of the area as all the conventional architectural components.”
The roof of the gymnasium is greater than the surrounding blocks, enabling area for clerestory windows.
Rows of wooden climbing frames line a single wall of the area, which features timber floors and turquoise paintwork developed to include warmth and domesticity to the pared-back layout.
Photography is by José Campos.
Task credits:
Architecture: Miguel Marcelino
Consumer: Municipality of Vagos
Collaborators: Pedro Dourado, José Figueiredo (acoustics), António Portugal (fire security), Andreia Florentino (mural illustrations)
Structural engineering: Betar (José Venâncio)
Plumbing engineering: Ana Luísa Ferreira
Electrical engineering: Fernando Carvalho Araújo
Mechanical engineering: António Lopes do Rego
Landscape design: FC Arquitectura Paisagista
Common dontractor: Encobarra
Floor program 
Sections Dezeen
