The Spanish School in Rabat by ParedesPedrosa Architects

Paredes Pedrosa architects has won the competition for the Spanish Educational Center in Rabat, Morocco.

The clear white volumes projected by ParedesPedrosa Architects, built with brick refer to the imaginary of the vernacular architectures are cut out by courtyards and other common spaces. The canopy, which will cover the entire complex, dark red, welcomes and articulates the spaces and builds the recognizable image of the center.

Descripción of the project by ParedesPedrosa Architects

The project articulates around two strategies, on the one hand to create an educational landscape based in the Campus of Rabat and another to build-up the image of this institution that will remain in the collective memory of the students that will grow there.

The project is designed with a unitary identity organized with several “arms” adapted to patios and linked by a continuous pierced canopy that expands and narrows according to the needs and at the same time embracing the exterior spaces and the views of the surrounding groves. In this way the green areas occupy the open spaces of the school merging with the negative architectural imprint.

From the access, the canopy welcomes and articulates opened and enclosed common spaces, organizing the set of classrooms as autonomous units around small yards.

The fragmented white volumes of different heights, built with whitish light-coloured enamelled brick, remind us to the imaginary of vernacular architectures, which represent the importance of their ultimate goal: the place where the foundations for life in society are developed, where knowledge and learning craft the future. The canopy built with a lightweight concrete slab finished with dark red ceramics, will turn into the School’s representative image.

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Site plan. First Prize Competition. The Spanish School in Rabat by ParedesPedrosa Architects. Image courtesy of ParedesPedrosa Architects.

Image. First Prize Competition. The Spanish School in Rabat by ParedesPedrosa Architects. Image courtesy of ParedesPedrosa Architects.

Ground floor plan and section. First Prize Competition. The Spanish School in Rabat by ParedesPedrosa Architects. Image courtesy of ParedesPedrosa Architects.

Diagram. First Prize Competition. The Spanish School in Rabat by ParedesPedrosa Architects. Image courtesy of ParedesPedrosa Architects.

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More information

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Architects

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Ángela García de Paredes, Ignacio G. Pedrosa

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Architecture Team

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Álvaro Rábano, Clemens Eichner, Roberto Lebrero, Luis G. Pachón, Matteo Maggio (student IUAV)

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Location

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Plot in front of the Educational Sciences University. Agdal, Rabat. Moroco

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Developer/client

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Gerencia de Infraestructuras y equipamientos. Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte

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Program

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Classrooms for infants, primary, secondary and high school. Administration and common areas such as auditorium, gym, dining room, multipurpose room and sports courts.

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Area

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Built.- 9.850 m²
Plot.- 20.000 m²

ARQUITECTOS PAREDES PEDROSA

Ángela García de Paredes (1958) and Ignacio García Pedrosa (1957) are architects from the Architecture School of Madrid, where they teach. Invited professors in other Spanish and foreign universities for teaching, critics and speakers. They founded Paredes Pedrosa Studio in 1990, after collaborating with José María García de Paredes for several years.

They are authors of, among other works, the Valdemaqueda Town Hall, Valle Inclán Theatre in Madrid, the Archaeological Museum of Almería, Peñíscola Auditorium, La Olmeda Roman Ville, Ceuta Library or the Lugo Auditorium. Their work has been recognized with the 2007 Spanish Architecture National Award, ar+d Award, Europan II and IV, Europa Nostra, Madrid Architecture Award, Mansilla Award, Gold Medal International Prize for Sustainable Architecture, Mediterranean Sustainable Architecture Award and 'Golden Medal for the Merit in Fine Arts' 2014, given by the Culture and Sports Spanish Ministery. Their work has been exhibited in many national and international architecture biennials.

Ángela García de Paredes Falla

Ángela García de Paredes Falla (Madrid, 1958) is architect from the Higher Technical School of Architecture of Madrid in 1982 and a doctor, Extraordinary Prize for doctoral thesis - dedicated to the work of her father, José María García de Paredes - from the Polytechnic University of Madrid in 2015, where she is a professor in the Department of Architectural Projects.

She began working as an architect collaborating, together with her husband Ignacio Pedrosa, in her father's studio which, after his death in 1990, became Paredes Pedrosa arquitectos Estudio de Arquitectura.

She is vice president of the Manuel de Falla Foundation, founded by her mother, and Academician of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando for the Architecture Section.

In 1990 he joined forces with Ignacio Pedrosa with whom he shares his professional and research activities, having obtained numerous first prizes in competitions and having built more than twenty buildings, and having been awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in Fine Arts 2014. In addition, his work has been exhibited at the Venice International Architecture Biennale in various editions.

Ignacio García Pedrosa

Ignacio García Pedrosa (Madrid, 1957) is architect from the Escuela Técnica Superior de Arquitectura de Madrid, where he obtained his doctorate in 2015, receiving an extraordinary award for his thesis Auditorium, a typology of the 20th century.

Since 1995 he has been an associate professor of Architectural Projects at the ETSAM and has been a guest professor at various institutions such as the IUAV in Venice, the School of Architecture of the Polytechnic University of Valencia, etc.

In 1990 he joined forces with his wife, Ángela García de Paredes, to open the Paredes Pedrosa studio. In his professional career they have won first prizes in competitions and built more than twenty buildings, highlighting public works of a cultural nature and public housing.

Published on: April 18, 2017

Cite: "The Spanish School in Rabat by ParedesPedrosa Architects" METALOCUS. Accessed

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