The natural park La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone is located in the eastern Catalonian Pyrinees, in the region of La Garrotxa, and it is one of the most clear examples of volcanic landscape in the Iberian Peninsula. Architects Isabel Zaragoza and Jesús Esquinas place value so precious landscape through the design process of the school.
This territory has a characteristic chromatic scale, result of the combination of local materials and nearby landscape units. "La Bòbila" School integrates these features in their design, mimicking the surroundings from the top of the plot.
The 'L' shape floor with his well chosen location in the plot on the one hand offer the strongest façade to the city while on the other hand embraces the tracks on the courtyard and creates a visual relationship with the natural park from the inner spaces.
Description of the project by Isabel Zaragoza y Jesús Esquinas
The plot is located on the edge of the Natural Park of the La Garrotxa Volcanic Zone. A place where the presence of the geology is clear, where rain leaves its changing imprint,... an ideal place to observe nature at different scales.
Integrate the building within the landscape and enhance the unique elements of its recent past: the fireplace, the magnific trees,... and the views; those were the first intuitions of the project.
The building is located in the highest part of the plot, with access for the remainder of an pre-existing woods; leaving the ground in two terraces, and thus configuring the patios.
The program is organized through a longitudinal bar whose end is blended in order to house the spaces of singular dimensions. The roof faithfully follows the natural slope of the ground, raising the background landscape even more.
A wide variety of spaces, suitable for children and where to build people... and with a section that gives away the user, younger or older, diverse perspectives of the valley and surrounding mountains. The most collective activities, the gym and the tracks can be observed from different points. A number of covered outdoor spaces, shelter of timely rain, while others get the nice sun for playing or provide the library's requested calm.
The organization in plan and the openings provide sky light to the school's day-to-day; the biomass from the close woods tames the chilly winters... it has been obtained the maximum enegetic rating!
The surroundings provide with shapes and materials: wood galleries, sloped covers, solid walls, covered atriums, the horizontal bands of the fields, some crater, the verticality of the woods, 'toasted' bricks from the old 'bòbila' (brick factory)... everything without distorsing the cromatic sequential rhythm of the landscape.
The enthusiasm of Les Preses inhabitants has been an stimulating motivation, which has solved all the obstacles in the extended construction process.
CREDITS. DATA SHEET.-
Architects.- Isabel Zaragoza and Jesús Esquinas.
Collaborators.- Xavier Pijoan, Cristina Tomás, Montse Galindo, Joan Bou (office), Manuel Arguijo (structure), Lluís Duart, Jordi Cano (installations), AT3 SCP (economy), Francesc García (Gisa, project's monitoring), Robert Benedé, Juanma Salvadó, Marc de Jaime (construction direction), Xevi Gómez, Pere Rifà (health and safety), Gerencia de obras de Infraestructures.cat (work's monitoring), Josep Oriol, Jordi Grillé (Generalitat de Catalunya, work's monitoring), Servicios técnicos municipales del Ayuntamiento de les Preses (work's monitoring).
Promoter.- Infraestructures.cat. Generalitat de Catalunya.
Construction.- Pai Construccions.
Dates.- 2008 (competition), 2009 (project), 2011-2014 (construction).
Surface.- 2,850 sqm (built), 5,790.2 sqm (plot).
