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Harquitectes: School 906

In a building with no heritage value but with “charisma” and “atmosphere”, near Barcelona, Harquitectes intervenes potentiating the relationship and tension between the old and the new parts.

Harquitectes, Refurbishment of School 906 in Sabadell, Barcelona, Spain

The school is located in the urban city center of Sabadell, in a corner shaped by two buildings aligned to the street. Both volumes create a wide courtyard with a sports center located in the basement.

The proposal involves only the oldest building (1959) which hosts the pre-school classrooms and few outdoor spaces. The essential strategy consists on taking advantage of the huge potential of the original building, both the constructed surfaces as well as the useful spaces.

The main interventions are a complete indoor refurbishment and a small extension of 240 sqm added to the previous 1,200 sqm giving a new south facade. The design also includes two new playgrounds: one on top of the building and another one on the roof of the sports center entrance. Finally, a new porch is added to the street main access.

The original building has no heritage value, but it does have certain material value as existing infrastructure. It also has a two sided sentimental meaning. It’s “charisma” linked to the oldest part of the school building, and the “atmosphere” due to the passing time patina has given to the material (masonry walls with sunken joints, hidden ceilings of ceramic vaults and concrete beams, etc.)

The principal aim of the intervention, both in the interior and the original street facade, is potentiating the relationship and tension between the old and the new parts.

The project’s most costly intervention, is the extension of the building justified by the lack of surface of the existing classrooms located on the street side of the building. On the ground floor, the extension preserves the existing corridor at its original place, while the pre-school classrooms are extended to the courtyard side increasing from 35 to 50 sqm. On the other side, on the first and second floor, the corridor is moved to the opposite side of the central bearing wall so that all the classrooms facing the street can be extended. This change gives place to one of the most powerful and unique material concepts of the proposal: the opening of the new corridor that crosses a 30cm. old wall that originally separated the classrooms.