Gerardo Molina School. Auditorium and multi-functional room.
western periphery of the city. As is usually the case in this kind
planning project (rather than simply an isolated building) whose
of settlements, the area is densely built with self-constructed
main purpose was to endow the growing neighbourhood with
adjacent houses. There is little homogeneity in the neighbour-
social, cultural and recreational facilities for the community, a
hood because houses grow intermittently depending on the
complex which included a school or, else, which emerged out of
fluctuating income of each family – there is no labour stability
the school brief. The architect saw the project as an opportunity
among the residents of the area, so most families do not have
to create what I have called a contact zone. In short, the school
regular earnings. The size of the existing houses varies from
was designed to become a social space for the community in
one to five storeys. There are also a few social housing blocks
general rather than a traditional fortified school building which
in the vicinity which contribute further to increasing population
would repel people other than students.
density. Although the programme given by the organisers of the competition called for the design of a school, there were numer-
To achieve this, the school was conceived as a continuous winding ribbon whose main elements, the classrooms, twist
ous secondary demands, some of which were not included in
in response to the surrounding contexts, i.e. it curves inwards
the brief itself but arose after careful analysis of the site. For that
where the exiting streets meet perpendicularly the outer bound-
reason, Mazzanti approached the design as if it were an urban
ary of the school and outwards reaching towards existing
Gerardo Molina School. south Elevation.
Gerardo Molina School | Bogotá, Colombia | 29
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23.10.2009 15:11:56 Uhr