Third Place.
The relationship between the requirements of the project and the considerable slope of the terrain on which it must be located, implies an obvious complexity: the Rugby field, a space that will occupy about 50% of the surface of the terrain must be an absolute plane. This is why the decision of how to organize the architectural program is subject in the first instance to an action of a higher order, which must first of all allow the construction of a large plan on the side of a hill.
In parallel, The Antofagasta British School has raised the importance of generating a sports stamp that motivates students and encourages them to practice physical activity from an early age. For this reason, the position of the large court will also be fundamental for the construction of the sports spirit of the school and for the generation of its identity, so its position is key to the proposed architecture project.
Es por esto que la estrategia de organización del sitio negocia las complejidades topográficas con la búsqueda de un proyecto que destaque el deporte como un valor e imagen del colegio.
CONTAINMENT AND SOILING
It has been chosen to stagger the terrain to locate the Rugby pitch in the lower part of the site, between two containments, half excavated, half filled. This operation involves dividing the land into two parts, a lower one, towards the sea and the city, which configures the public image of the school and which houses the sports program of the gym and the Rugby pitch. Upwards, on a single platform, the teaching and administrative program of the school is concentrated, on the level of the field and after a clear element of containment a large-scale urban facade is defined. Is
organization favors views from the top both towards the field and the city through the routes and important spaces of the school.
Organization of the program:
OASIS CONTENTS
The upper platform of the terrain is framed by a unitary and ceremonial linear element, a large covered street that completely crosses the site in an east-west direction and that through its thickness, and triple height spatiality, organizes the most relevant flows of the school at different levels. This element, which also configures the main façade of the school, articulates its common programs (library, auditorium, casino, underground parking lots, etc.) and the blocks with classrooms according to a sequence of courtyards that follow one another. This staggered sequence of 4 patios and 5 blocks are distributing both the teaching and administrative programs.
The main access to the school, from the south along the upper edge of the land, makes the school look like a transfer from the hill to the city, through educational and sports spaces. A first access plaza, at street level, allows independent access to four sectors: inside the school teaching area (Junior, Middle and Senior), the Pre-school sector, the administrative offices and the auditorium. This guarantees flexibility of use as it makes accesses independent by user and timetables.
Once inside the school, a first stepped patio descends the slope between the auditorium and the block that brings together the administrative programs and the rectory. The auditorium, a hermetic volume, arms the corner of the site and bridges the difference in level between the plinth and the access level through its interior slope and a series of exterior circulations that flank it. The administration is directly connected to the street, while the rectory is located in a strategic place, enjoying a panoramic view of the most relevant instances of the school. The large patio space
stepped slopes towards the views of the sea through the large street covered with circulations.
The Junior, Middle and Senior sectors have resulted as homologous situations staggered half a floor one after the other from the entrance, organizing in each case the rooms in L-shaped blocks on 2 levels and closing a patio that connects directly with the main circulations on each level. The staggered arrangement makes it possible to take better advantage of the topography, avoiding less earth movements, guaranteeing views of the field and the landscape, favoring natural lighting and cross ventilation.
The Pre-school sector is located in the highest part of the land with independent access. This is organized parallel to the access street, in a staggered sequence of half levels. The common courtyard is elongated and is divided into 3 continuous playgrounds, also responding to the different stages of development of each level.
In this sense, the covered street is understood as part of a ring of circulations that connects all the levels and programs of the blocks and the different patios. This connects with the circulations of each block and with the perimeter circulations of the school. A series of rings are then established and through the courtyards that expand the relationships between the programs, generating a multiplicity of situations of crossing and meeting between the different users of the school, without losing the understanding of autonomy and independence of the academic units.
Associate architects: OF Arquitectos (Alvaro Ramirez, Francisco Cepeda, Nicolas Cabargas, Cristian Fraser) / d+vA (Antonio Duval, Pablo Vives) / Nicolas Stutzin / Hugo Galvez / Paula Livingstone.
Project Year: 2016
Land Area: 22.379,88 m2
Covered surfaces: 11.510,40 m2
Outdoor area: 15.399,00 m2
Location: Calle Cerro Coloso s/n, Jardines del Sur Antofagasta.