Verde School / Ricardo Gusmao Arquitetos + Guido Otero Arquitetura

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The 4,500.00m² building is divided into four floors: the ground floor organized around the covered arrival courtyard, which has a double ceiling height, crosses the building longitudinally, and houses more collective programs such as recreation and cafeteria. The first floor contains the administrative spaces, and the two upper floors are dedicated to classrooms, laboratories, and art rooms, accessed by a large support space. The roof, completely open, serves as a large open square that allows multiple uses and relates extensively to the surrounding views, expanding possibilities for outdoor activities.Text description provided by the architects.Escola Verde´s new unit is located on Canal 6, 50 meters from the beach. In addition to its proximity to the beach, the strategic position of the land within the block also provided important elements for the project: it used to be an empty space between high rise vertical buildings facing the sea and a village of houses facing the mainland. The school building thus operates at the boundary between the scales of the neighbors and seeks ways to relate to the canal and the sea, creating a unique environment for students and the local community.To speed up construction, the adopted building method was precast concrete, and the walls were made of soil-cement bricks with aluminum frames. These materials were left exposed, and, like the installations, they give a didactic character to the construction and facilitate its maintenance. For solar protection, two types ofsolar shadingwere installed: on the ground floor, there is a perforated metal sheet that marks the more collective spaces; on the upper floors, horizontal brises were designed with a metal structure and planters.