087_The Expanded School
Education, at all levels, has always been and will continue to be a recurring theme of debate and an endless field of experimentation. As it is responsible for the “programming” of successive generations, our societies’ future and evolution depend on it, intervening directly in its delicate configuration.
Throughout history, the consequences of its manipulation have been, and still are, clearly visible, and the earlier the “intrusion” occurs, the more influence it has…
How then should architecture respond to this uncomfortable reality?
When designing our proposal for the new Centre for Special Education in Madrid, our intention, beyond creating a building, has been to build a new “channel.” A space for exchange designed to explore and promote new educational trends, to enable experimental pedagogical strategies development, and generate a suitable and unique environment that reinforces the intellectual and physical growth of disabled children and children with special educational needs.
As a result, our building will perform as a kind of test pattern, a fixed sign displayed when the transmitter was active but waiting to broadcast a new program. The new school will operate as a base frame of open configuration pending programming. Our School will be a new media channel waiting to be loaded with content and capable of supporting subsequent updates.
The primary variable that drove our work throughout this process arose when incorporating the reality of an uncertain future as a raw material. To deal with the unexpected, we focused on a sort of neutral architecture, repeatable and standardized (modular), released from the tyranny of the present (CURRENT), and based on concepts such as unstable identity or programmed imperfection. The final goal is to design a building to be done, whose actual construction will begin the opening day.
Therefore, the New School will be an urban-scale building with a particular rural component related to domesticated natures, an antidote to monotony, immobility, and “comfort zones,” becoming a catalyst for non-conformist and proactive attitudes.