CEIP LOS ARCOS
"If Duchamp has declared the everyday object as a work of art, I declare the use of the object to be a work of art."
— Wolf Vostell, in Guardado, Mi vida con Vostell, p. 56
The value of use that W. Vostell proclaims is the same one that becomes blocked in concrete when, in 1976, together with the residents of Malpartida de Cáceres, he fills the interior and exterior of his Opel Admira in the work VOAEX, an emblem of the Vostell Museum of Malpartida de Cáceres. In this way, the use of the object (BETTONAGES) becomes obstructed, and a single rock-like mass appears, devoid of mechanism—revealing the final convergence with the intrinsic nature embedded in human creations.
From this action, as architects of the 21st century, we can derive two readings. On the one hand, we believe that convergence with nature must also be understood as intrinsic to the built environment. On the other, the purely vital dimension of use—the experiential value of a public building and the mechanisms that enable it—should also be celebrated.
With this in mind, for the Public School of Malpartida de Cáceres we propose a building that, through its site strategy, composition, and materiality, addresses these two interpretations:
+It must willingly blur its anthropization, allowing the intrinsic convergences with nature—which support the building’s sustainability throughout its life cycle—to emerge with greater intensity.
+It must function as a blank canvas, a suggestive and non-conclusive space, equipped with only the minimum mechanisms needed to allow the free development of its use value.
SITE STRATEGY
Conceived as a porous boundary, the building filters the relationship between the urban environment of single-family houses and the natural surroundings dominated by the randomness of granite outcrops and agricultural expanses that shape the municipality’s perimeter. This boundary materializes by filling the only urban edge (north) with a slightly fragmented longitudinal volume that adapts to the scale of its context. It then becomes a short transverse passage (which ensures naturally lit and ventilated interiors and shortens circulation with a single organizing lobby) and favors a priority north–south orientation on its two main opposing façades.
COMPOSITION
We embrace compactness, limited depth to take advantage of prevailing winds, and tailored responses to the contrast between the two orientations—harnessing natural conditions in accordance with the needs of each programmatic use.
The south façade, on the ground floor, is characterized by a long pergola of variable geometry that offers an unexpected intermediate space that extends, shelters, and welcomes the most public uses, dissolving the boundary between interior and exterior. On the upper floor, double-height spaces (gymnasium and lobby) help bathe both levels with direct light along the interior axis farthest from the exterior walls.
On the northern side, at ground level, auxiliary uses appear enclosed within strategically positioned volumes that create permeable thresholds between the urban and educational realms: the main entrance, the preschool entrance, and the cafeteria—all requiring immediate access from the outside. On the first floor, the northern band presents a regular rhythm of classrooms facing staircases, double-height spaces, and auxiliary areas along the southern front.
We find ground-floor façades open and protected toward the south, unified by precast concrete screens, and punctuated by carefully positioned openings to the north. On the upper floor, the façade solution is systematized, selectively altered with openings tailored to each orientation.
MATERIALITY
In a reciprocal opposition of forces, the raw concrete exterior forms the assertive image of an educational infrastructure that aspires to become stone, firmly refusing to confront natural processes. Inside, a neutral, bare, and gentle environment—like a suggestive blank page—awaits students, who will develop their personalities within it, discovering and inhabiting it with the colors of their clothes and smocks, backpacks and shoes, their drawings and their reality; a place where they can make their own decisions and themselves declare the use of the building to be a work of art.
These decisions sustain the project, the work, and its subsequent use, reflecting a deliberate intention to foster the intrinsic convergence of architecture with nature and the evocative value of use—a proposal of a blank canvas that extends the useful life of this public building.
This is complemented by systems of active convergence (automated natural ventilation regulated by CO₂ sensors, radiant heating and cooling through aerothermal production, and a substantial photovoltaic installation) that resolve conditions where the passive strategies described above are insufficient. The result is an autonomously functioning building, yet in continuous dialogue with natural processes: the first bioclimatic public school in Extremadura.
CREDITS
Authors: Tenor (Álvaro Valverde + Luis Vacas) + Paradigma Estudio (María Navarro Cifuentes + Manuel Jesús Píriz Gil) + Buró4 + Gabriel Verd Arquitectos
Teams:
Technical Architect: Carlos Rubio Manso (Construction), José Joaquín Escribano (Construction), Manuel Cansino (Design)
MEP Engineering: Miguel Sibón Roldán
Structural Engineering: Roberto Sepúlveda
