Nature’s first green is gold. Bom Sucesso School by CREA
04/02/2020.
[Porto] Portugal
metalocus, JOAN MARSET
metalocus, JOAN MARSET
Recently, the Portuguese architecture studio based in Porto CREA, has finished a project for the Bom Sucesso school in central Porto.
Like a golden glade, in the now densely populated city centre, the complex entails a set of volumes for a kindergarten and the four initial school grades.
Like a golden glade, in the now densely populated city centre, the complex entails a set of volumes for a kindergarten and the four initial school grades.
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Bom Sucesso School by CREA. Photograph by António Ataíde
Ground floor plan complex. Bom Sucesso School by CREA.
First floor plan complex. Bom Sucesso School by CREA.
Sections. Bom Sucesso School by CREA.
Sections. Bom Sucesso School by CREA.
CREA arquitectos designed the renovation in a process conducted in close proximity with the school community and student’s parents, listening to their explicit needs as a guide for bringing a 50’s school to the 21st century.
Project description by CREA
Nature’s first green is gold.*
Integrated in the Centennial Plan for the portuguese elementary schools and inaugurated in 1958, the Bom Sucesso equipment has recently returned to the school community, after the rehabilitation and expansion project developed by CREA Studio.
Hidden in a glade within the consolidated city blocks of central Porto, the complex included an extensive outside playground flanked by three original buildings that have been previously expanded. Our project sought to interpret and rethink the complex in light of the new school program, and its relation to the surrounding space of the urban blocks and the public street.
In parallel to the accurate rehabilitation of the classrooms, common areas and circulation spaces, the addition of two new volumes aimed to discipline the various moments of the school. The arrival of the parents with the children, in the porch attached to the new gymnasium, which separates the parking lot from the outside playground. And the path to the new kindergarten, and existing buildings, from which one dominates the wideness of the lot, progressively revealing itself.
Clarifying the playground centrality and hierarchizing the relation with the school’s surroundings, the added buildings display the presence of natural light throughout all the interior spaces; whether it is the kindergarten’s classrooms facing the morning light, the hallways and activities rooms facing a patio, or the new gymnasium widely opened to the playground and to the framed tree tops, in the south light.
The architectural process progressed in close proximity with the school community and parents of the students with whom we developed a close dialogue during the project.
We believe that in city life we are often unconnected with nature and with this project we strived for children to embrace the broad and luminous space of the school surrounded by trees, injected with ocher hue and a small but yet vibrant blue square, for games.
*excerpt from Nothing Gold Can Stay, by Robert Frost.
More information
Architects
Collaborators
Engineering.- ASL.
Builder
Atlantinível
Dates
Date of conclusion.- October, 2019.
Photography
André Camelo - Tânia Alves - Bruno Soares - António Ataíde CREA
CREA. Consulting in Rehabilitation, Engineering and Architecture, in Porto, founded by André Camelo and Tânia Alves. At the moment it is also formed by: Bruno Soares and António Ataíde Awards.- National Urban Renovation Award 2017 - Best Intervention in Commercial Use and Services
