Eight main volumes with sloped roofs in different directions are proposed, containing the classrooms, spatially articulated by a circulation ring/corridor, with enough transparency to visually incorporate and provide a special continuity between the interior and the central courtyard, where the open amphitheatre is located. Apart from these volumes with identical dimensioning, there is another with larger proportions containing the indoor gymnasium. In each of these volumes’ facades there are large glass windows, allowing the classrooms to be lit by natural lighting. The windows are placed in different strategic areas in order to maintain the privacy needed for a
classroom.

The project underlines the idea of a space with special qualities, that allows not only the learning through classes, but also that improves people’s experiences, mobility and their connection with school itself. Thus, we developed a concept of Open School, exploring the school more like a body rather than a building itself: the school it is not finished; it is in constant evolution and has to be used by children, teachers, parents… in order to achieve its potential and purpose.

At the same time, the Open concept also refers to the will of creating a building clearly connected to the city. Having that in mind, the shape of the proposal, made through cuts and subtractions, reflects the forms of the city. In addition to that, the two entrances allow the user to have different interactions and perceptions: as the student grows older and changes from preschool to primary school, so does his perception of the building, as if it was not the same.

O LOOP Housing Complex é um projeto cujos espaços se transformam num conceito, num novo modo de estar e viver, onde a cidade se liga à paisagem, a casa se une às vinhas, os moradores aos visitantes, onde o interior se expande para o exterior, considerando que o habitar não se restringe apenas ao espaço privado da casa mas também se estende à vida coletiva.

Independentemente das necessidades de ocupação deste “LOOP” de habitação e do pátio interno, que mais à frente se irão especificar, a intervenção é entendida como um todo, onde o espaço público e de lazer é o protagonista que, apesar disso, não deixa de estar em concordância com as restantes partes. As galerias, para além de serem elementos de circulação e acesso às habitações percorrendo o edifício e ligando todos os níveis, apresentam-se como uma das chaves da intervenção, complementando os espaços de circulação e acesso com lugares de passagem, jardins e percursos com amplitude visual e atratividade espacial para criar espaços para o convívio dos moradores.

The creation of the CERCI School was for the purpose of education, reintegration and professional training for people with disabilities. The approximate total area of 7,000 sq.m is divided into four sectors:

• preschool/infants and Special School
• education and rehabilitation for high levels of disability
• training in professional skills for reintegration into schools and offices (tailoring, loksmithing, carpentry, model-making and bookbinding)
• secure employment for disabled people with professional skills of a high standard (locksmithing, tapestry, floristy).

The initial project began as a study, but the persistance of the many people who supported the building, and the need for it, succeeded in turning it into a live project.

The developed solution, its template, the number of floors and the area of the footprint of the different volumes grew with increasing needs, each time re-articulating the programme. The final design provided the chance for phased construction tailored towards a slow release of funding, creating autonomous spaces that garanteed greater flexibility of use during construction.

The solution is based on the construction of a linear floor with a distribution corridor running its length, from where the various sectors of the programme are distributed. The corridor runs north/south in accordance with the topography of the land.

It is at a level that eliminates the need for stairways and establishes contact with two surrounding roads.

1. Accessibility
The design of the routes in the outdoor space, which is strongly characterized by the topography, enables barrier-free crossing of the area from the northern part of the complex at Fellenbergstrasse to the southern part at Langgrüstraf3e. This circulation also enables joyful moments along the various rooms, which often switch between more public and spacious zones to more intimate and hidden ones. Entrances, general access areas and commercial uses as well as apartments and their sanitary rooms are dimensioned and designed barrier-free or can be adapted to the requirements of the situation.

2. Building development
The building complex is developing in the area in a way that tries to respect and complement the remarkable but calm city figure. The integration of the new proposal is based on the careful placement of the two buildings facing the penalties that border the property, the Fellenberg and Langgrüstraf3e.

These two buildings have the same character and follow the direction of their neighboring buildings, carefully adjusting their height. Both are significantly lower compared to the rest of the complex, so that the penalty images remain unaffected.

However, the proposal not only tries to blend in with its surroundings, but also to create its own strong identity, which becomes more evident in the core of the property, where a green carpet stretches across the two punishments. Here are two buildings with different shapes and a more prominent height, which allow the creation of a more pluralistic interior space. This results in a large number of apartment types and with different levels of sunlight.

On the ground floor, the green carpet is activated with entrances, common rooms and public programs such as the kindergarten or the social rooms.

3. Materialization
The composition of the four buildings is on a generous entrance level, which is emphasized by a particularly generous floor height and a change of material in the lower part is underlined. This level is interrupted by the interplay of the house entrances, large-format windows for commercial use and smaller windows for communal use. The rear-ventilated wooden facade that characterizes the entire complex develops from there. This block of wood is interrupted on each level by a self-supporting concrete balcony, which protrudes from the main structure and at the same time marks the change of level and provides the balcony areas. The balcony areas play a crucial role in the overall expression of the building. The densification with metal masts and the slight inclination of the facade creates a filigree appearance that refines the urban expression and gives each individual outdoor area a special and unique quality.

4. Economy
The urban settlement with four partially deep, compact buildings of simple geometry is the basis for an economic project. The conventional supporting structure in combination with prefabricated façade elements, a balanced proportion of glass in the façade and the use of common structures enable an economical one
Realization. The consistent use of suitable, durable and robust materials, constructions and surfaces leads to economical operating and maintenance costs. The project parameters HNF/GF, AN, AN, Ao/GF are in a good range.

5. Building technology & energy

A balanced proportion of glass in the facades and the compactness of the building due to deep and few structures form the basis for an energy-optimized overall system. The building technology concept is based on a building-by-building system for HLS in the basement, which is directly connected to vertical riser zones. PV systems and thermal solar collectors can be combined with green flat roofs. The heat is generated via the district heating network according to availability. All in all, the prerequisites for achieving the Minergie-P-Eco target values ​​are good.

O colégio desenvolve-se segundo um mote de escola no parque, de simbiose com a natureza e organiza-se segundo vários blocos com espaços exteriores interstícios, tornando clara a separação por ciclos e funções. Organizado em três pisos, distribui-se segundo quatro volumes transversais, conectados a um volume longitudinal.

Os dois volumes a Sul, próximos do átrio, destinam-se ao segundo ciclo; os dois a Norte ao terceiro ciclo; por fim, no rés-do-chão do volume Este organizam-se as zonas de refeitório, cozinha, secretaria, salas de docentes, enquanto no piso superior estão localizadas as salas de aula do secundário. O Piso -1 é tratado como o piso de uso geral, com salas de aula especializadas – laboratórios, salas de desenho e oficinas – auditório e, por fim, a livraria e biblioteca.

A entrada é feita através do ponto de ligação entre os volumes Sul e Este. A partir deste espaço, todas as funções são organizadas ao longo de um importante eixo longitudinal, marcado pelo volume Este, onde se organizam todas as zonas comuns e a partir do qual é feita a distribuição para os diferentes ciclos. Um segundo eixo longitudinal liga os volumes transversais, através de um corredor envidraçado.

An interplay of volumes based on the repetition and grouping of a module was the theme behind this project. Owing to the demands of the programme and the constraints of the terrain, we arranged these modules around a central courtyard. The result was an irregular, dynamic and complex body, which created multiple and varied areas for play, reflection and learning.

The central courtyard presents itself as an empty space, a unifying element and a catalyst for experiences. In the words of Lao Tzu, it is the empty space that makes the wheel turn. Here it is the joint that connects and makes the body, apparently fragmented and comprising seemingly random volumes, unified. The glass has a double function: it enables the interior to turn outwards, extending its boundaries, while at the same time it marks and reveals the interplay and contrast of volumes that characterise this building.

Similarly, the interior reveals the same contrast of shapes and volumes, of areas for circulation and rest on the winding paths around the courtyard, which provides protection and brings the indoors out. Inside the colourful and bright classrooms the irregular roofs of the volumes that shape them are recreated, making these spaces distinctive, unique and distinguished, just as the children who attend this school.

Construir sobre o construído é um desafio que sempre se coloca ao arquiteto e cada vez mais à nova arquitetura. A reabilitação, a recuperação e o restauro de edifícios ou de património são hoje em dia um campo de trabalho fundamental para o desenvolvimento da nossa profissão. 

A arquitetura constrói-se sempre sobre algo que existe; sobre um passado, um território, sobre um terreno ou sobre um edifício preexistente e nunca sobre um vazio ou numa tábua rasa. Este centro escolar é disso um exemplo. Constrói-se tendo por base uma escola existente que se recuperou e se manteve na sua essência e apenas se acrescentaram novos módulos, novos acessos e diferentes materiais. 

O Centro Escolar de Paredes, surge da necessidade de recuperação e reabilitação de uma escola construída com base numa estrutura prefabricada degradada que já não apresentava níveis de qualidade e conforto para o exercício da sua atividade.

Do entendimento das necessidades de recuperação e ampliação, propôs-se o acréscimo de três novos volumes capazes de responderem às necessidades espaciais e programáticas exigidas e sobretudo poderem unificar todo o volume sem que se perdesse a matriz pavilhonar existente e que procuramos explorar como conceito, imagem ou identidade para este novo edifício. Uma composição volumétrica baseada num processo de adição de volumes puros e justapostos, com identidades e formas distintas, associada a uma subtil articulação de palas e de vazios, acompanhada por um trabalho na criação de diferentes espaços exteriores e na composição de novos materiais de revestimento, são os elementos que caraterizam a intervenção.

Procura-se criar uma escola com personalidade e identidade própria, utilizando os elementos existentes, desenhando uma silhueta dinâmica e estimulante a todo o conjunto que se quer renovado, atualizado e só por isso diferente.

The Mouriz School is located on an industrial plot. It has a small façade overlooking the street, but reaches maximum expression lengthwise as a result of the constraints of the land. 

From this markedly orthogonal building, there is a zigzagging line that constructs and defines its entire façade. This creates an outward three-dimensionality and a quasi cinematographic language made from wood, whose design stems from the tradition of the place.

It is a building that marks the land, that stands out and contaminates its surroundings with its own identity carved out in the landscape. Its strong visual expression is linked to the movement and silhouette of its façade, and the way the windows are etched into it as if it were a musical score. A melodic line that gains substance and, through apparent repetition, earns its own identity. In contrast, its extremities are hollow and can be seen as two large eyeglasses gazing over the landscape, projecting the inside outwards and thus removing its physical barriers.

A school as a route, open to many encounters.