In Terrassa there had long been a need to educate a large number of boys and girls who belonged to immigrant families. To solve this problem, the city council acquired three plots of land located on the outskirts of the city, precisely in the areas where the school-age population was most neglected. Analysing this situation, certain political and social parallels could be found with the Catalan national schooling programme proposed by the Republican Generalitat and the GATCPAC in the 1930s.
For the three school groups, a common programme was drawn up and the need to standardise as many construction elements as possible was raised to reduce construction costs as much as possible. Based on these premises and to achieve maximum simplicity and clarity of distribution, the architects proposed differentiating the different blocks and playgrounds, connecting the blocks through the gym-function room, orienting and ventilating the classrooms as best as possible, and standardising the constructions and simplifying the structure as much as possible. Taking these guidelines into account, the projects ended up being the result of adapting the school programme to the terrain.
The structural system has been standardised for the three school groups and a uniform orthogonal reinforced concrete framework has been used that is evident on the exterior to give an air of constructive sincerity to the complex. This decision responds to economic reasons, but also cultural ones, since it follows the postulates of Grup R to “rescue” the modern movement that had developed during the Republic. Furthermore, the use of load-bearing walls would have made the construction of large windows difficult.
The specific function of each building, however, is expressed through the enclosures, which can be opaque or transparent depending on the spatial and lighting needs of the interior (blind walls in the assembly rooms and heavily glazed in the classrooms).
