Type: Educational
Year: 2019
Ubicacation: Ranchillos, San Javier, Región del Maule_Chile
Área: 225,9 m2
Colaborator Architec: Javier Lorenzo
Sponsor: Fundacion Desafio Levantemos Chile
Client: Gobierno de Chile
Structure: Alberto Ramírez
Engineers Specialist: Dycip
Award:
Selection, Nominee in National Sample, XXII Biennale of Architecture and Urbanism of Chile, 2023
Selection, 18 Biennial of International Architecture of Buenos Aires 2022
In the summer of 2017, Chile suffered one of the biggest fire storms in its history, specifically in the south central area, consuming about 600,000 hectares. The Maule region was the epicenter, destroying entire towns, along with the Rural School of Ranchillos, a public administration that serves the surrounding communities of that rural area. This one-teacher work for 20 children is a post-catastrophe reconstruction that was financed through a Public-Private alliance led by the Fundación Desafío Levantemos Chile, the Municipality and donations from companies such as CMPC, Hunter Douglas, among others.
We tried for the project to take as a reference an image of a farmhouse or village, a recurring element in the rural imaginary of Chile, it is made up of pavilions that, in sum, and relationships between independent programs, which, when connected, generate a greater space for convergence and participation. Through this configuration, a meeting place will be created for that rural locality.
Each volume or pavilion corresponds to a program, giving the project spatial independence according to its particular needs, which converge in a central multipurpose space. The volumes are structured in pine wood donated by CMPC, which are completely covered due to the fire standard for educational establishments, with RF cardboard plasterboard on both sides. The radier of the old burnt school is used as an area for crop beds to produce their own food, ending in a greenhouse and cellar.
Habitability needs largely determine the development and learning of students. The project incorporates passive sustainable strategies such as double heights, ventilated skins on floors, walls and ceilings, skylights to optimize natural overhead light and ventilation, double insulation according to Chilean standards on floors, walls and ceilings to increase thermal comfort, acoustic ceilings and solar control blinds managed by the students themselves, among others. The exterior coatings or skin are worked in Geoclad aluzinc panels, which are folded with a particular random design. These panels correspond to a donation from Hunter Douglas, where machinery recently acquired by the company is tested, on the other hand, different colors are used, seeking to accentuate the village concept of spontaneous construction.
The project seeks to be a benchmark in rural schools in vulnerable areas in Chile, capable of influencing through its design the quality of student learning in areas characterized by poverty, rurality and that were also hit by natural disasters. The interests of students, teachers, families and communities are integrated throughout the process, with the intention of promoting learning through a new environment built together. Applying neuroarchitecture strategies such as the increase in square meters per student, natural overhead lighting, thermal comfort, acoustics and color work, allowed expanding the limits currently explored, favoring better teacher/teacher performance, which generates a climate suitable for imparting meaningful teachings to children.
