The positioning of the school finds its echo on the spontaneity of its northern context. The social and services program draw a topography line that cuts through the whole terrain establishing the natural continuity between the existing and the future neighbourhood. The formal learning body (classrooms and laboratories) is a one level 88mx88m square, establishing a new built reference for future developments, floating above the landscape and framing the Sintra mountain.
From the tension between floor and plate, a space of transition is born where the informal learning is to be privileged. This in between void defines a route through a succession of interior and exterior spaces, and structures the fundamental school ́s nucleus.
The territory of the atrium and social areas contaminates all other floors of the school through a circulation axis perpendicular to the main axis. Two generous staircases are complemented by a system of ramps leading to all floors of the building and finally reaching the formal body of the classrooms. The long ramp crosses all main spaces of the building, and is by excellence the symbolic space of continuous learning, intersected by moments of pause and discovery.
program: Secondary School architecture: João Fagulha, João Ruivo, Raquel Oliveira, Tudor Vasiliu structural engineer: Artur Pinto Martins, Pedro Martins landscape architecture: Bound Arquitectos Paisagistas 3D images: Panoptikon client: Parque Escolar area: 13.320m2 budget: 12.275.000€ year: 2010 location: Mem Martins, Portugal status: Competition. 1st Prize