At the beginning of 1993 we were commissioned to build a pre-school and primary education centre (3+6 units), adapted to the new study plans, which entailed the refurbishment and extension of two buildings. Both are located, at different levels, on a plot of land between Pi Street, one of the main streets in the old town of Sant Pere de Ribes, and Arquitecte Cerdà Street, already belonging to the recently formed extension.
The primary school (module A) already occupied the building next to Arquitecte Cerdà Street. Only the structure of its two floors, of prefabricated panels and pillars, is preserved, and it was extended towards the interior of the plot with a new building of substantially similar volume and layout placed between two interior courtyards.
The main part of the program is arranged evenly between the two buildings: the departments, multipurpose room-dining room and service, on the ground floor of the existing wing and the auxiliary classroom on the upper one. The main classroom is located on the ground floor of the new wing, under the gymnasium.
The building is completed with two bodies perpendicular to the previous ones that contain ramps, stairs and unique elements in volumes that enclose the courtyards, occupy them in part and open punctually with their own geometries.
The first of these bodies, like an internal street, directly connects the two classrooms and the gymnasium, and houses the teachers' room and the complementary classroom under its slopes.
The other defines the main façade of the school towards the courtyard with its central porch covered in ceramics. Behind, the double-height lobby visually connects the central courtyard and the large void inside the block and is extended with the library.
The pre-school classrooms (module B) are located in what was the village's first school. Between both buildings, at mid-height, is the multi-sports track, connected by ramps and the library's roof to the indoor circulation system. In this way, a circuit is created that allows you to go around the whole school and appropriate the space of the neighbouring yards and gardens.
