Two school conversions from Palenzvela

Double school renovation: Spanish office Palenzvela has extended two schools in Andalusia and adapted them to changing requirements. In doing so, they revived a building tradition of the region. Both conversions feature large tiled wall surfaces that set color accents.

Colors and tiles: These two elements play the main role in two school extensions in the Spanish region of Andalusia. They were designed and built by Palenzvela from Alemería. In both cases, the architects have placed independent additions next to the existing buildings. They can clearly be seen as additions. Nevertheless, they have succeeded in ensuring that the new buildings do not interfere with the old buildings, but rather enliven them. They achieved this by using restrained forms and materials that cleverly create a counterpoint. The use of color not only refers to the tradition and light of southern Spain, but also to its function as a school building.

The San Agostin School is located near the Puntas Entinas-Sabinar Natural Park, a dune and lagoon landscape near Almería. Palenzvela Architects borrowed the turquoise green of the tiles used to clad the interior and exterior of their extension from the light and colorfulness of this protected area. The construction task was to create a new access route for two existing buildings as part of a school renovation project. This was because the previous stairwells no longer met current requirements in terms of fire safety and accessibility. The initial plan was to add a separate staircase to both buildings. Instead, Palenzvela Architekten proposed extending one of the two buildings and adding a spacious stairwell, while at the same time connecting the two buildings on the upper floor with a passageway. This measure turned an unpretentious extension into a proper school extension.

With the help of the new staircase and the bridge that now connects the two existing buildings, the school conversion has created a structural unit. At the same time, the closed cubic volume with its colorful tile cladding forms an effective counter-accent to the two unpretentiously designed old buildings with their ochre-colored clinker brick facades. Inside the cube, a wide single-arm staircase with an intermediate landing connects the two floors. The new staircase is illuminated by five pyramid-shaped skylights. The incident sunlight then hits a reflector, which diffuses it throughout the room. To enhance the lighting effect, the architects have also completely clad the walls of the stairwell with turquoise tiles on the inside. This creates a shimmering brightness that does not cause glare.

The landing at the top of the staircase opens to the left and right with two doors. On one side, you enter the central corridor of the existing building, to which the staircase is attached. If you turn to the opposite side, you enter the passage that is open at the top. Like a bridge, it bridges the almost seven-meter gap between the two old buildings. In this way, the school conversion not only ensures that the legal requirements can be met. At the same time, it also significantly improves the circulation of the school complex. In addition, the well-designed architecture has made the existing school building much more attractive with little effort.

The school renovation carried out by Palenzvela in a suburb of Seville was much more complex than in Almería. An existing primary school building from the 1990s was given a new extension. The architects were faced with the challenge of having to accommodate the room program on a small building site between the main building and the sports hall.

Nevertheless, they also managed to create a small, semi-open courtyard during their school conversion, which they placed between the new building and the existing main building. The wall cladding of the courtyard, made of sun-yellow tiles, sets a color accent without visually dominating the school complex. The open courtyard, known as the “Intervallum”, narrows towards the front of the building in a funnel shape. Conversely, it widens the deeper you go into it. A passageway leads from the courtyard to the school garden at the rear of the building.

Unlike the yellow courtyard area, the façade of the extension is plastered white. In this way, the architects create a design link to the existing building, which combines plaster and cobblestone surfaces. Ribbon windows illuminate the three storeys. This is another way in which Palenzvela echoes the shapes of the old building. Sun blinds provide protection from the southern Spanish sun – arranged vertically to the front and horizontally to the rear.

The interior of the extension houses workshops and classrooms. The three floors of the extension are accessed via the existing building, so there is no separate staircase. A central corridor leads to the classrooms on the first and second floors. In order to illuminate the corridor, the walls to the classrooms are only half-height. The zone above is designed as a window area. At the end of the corridor, a narrow vertical band of windows runs across both floors.

Palenzvela Architects also used wall tiles both on the outside and inside of this school conversion. Unlike in Almerída, however, in different colors. The yellow in the courtyard is joined here by cobalt blue in the interior rooms. Here too, however, the glossy surface of the tiles gently distributes the sunlight, which only enters the room in a muted way. In contrast, the floors and ceilings are finished in exposed concrete or in shades of gray and anthracite. According to their builders, the interiors should be both functional and cheerful at the same time. They have achieved this in both school buildings with economical means.

From Andalusia to Flanders, pink and light gray instead of green, yellow, blue: a new school building by Felt Architekten