León Duval — Spatial Possibilities

The competition for the new San Fernando Industrial Lyceum (High School) posed the difficulty of intervening in an emblematic institution of the locality of San Fernando. An area embedded with a strong cultural and aesthetic load, and influenced by different industries such as agriculture, mechanics and mining. All of them, with a significant presence and image in the zone along with its history. 

The proposal aims to homologate and rebuild the aesthetic identity of the institution by reformulating the three main buildings through an industrial construction system, associated with the pedagogical activities of the facility, which allows them to be built in a quick, flexible and efficient way. Therefore, the design of the different buildings is organised around the proposal of the collective and common spaces to promote the diversity of spaces of meeting and learning. A strategy of relations is presented through the implementation of different types of playgrounds as the central organising elements and pedagogical complements in a system of spaces that compose a playful and interrelated landscape between the whole campus.

As part of the assignment it was to maintain the functions of the lyceum while the works of demolition and construction of the new proposed buildings were being developed. That detail was crucial to design the different strategies applied to this proposal. For example, along with keeping the budget as low as possible, it was a strong influence in the selection of the chosen concrete precast structural system as well as the determined installation phases. 

This proposal was administered by the builder company who carried out the entire project with the inputs of different professionals and specialists to achieve in a short period of one month the development of the entire project. In that line, we, as the architects of the project, worked closely with the builders to empathise with the economic, constructive, and spatial aspects of the proposal.