Location: Santa Catarina Pinula – Guatemala Design: Paz Arquitectura – Alejandro Paz Year of design: 2011 Year of construction: 2014 Structural design: Consultores Estructurales Construction: Qualicons Electrical design: Instelectra Hidraulic Design: CONARQ Photography: Andres Asturias
In 2011 Paz Arquitectura was asigned by Colegio Metropolitano to develop a Master Plan for their infrastructure in Santa Catarina Pinula, Puerta Parada.
Such Master Plan should contemplate two important issues:
The modernization of their facilities and the addition of one more classroom to each grade, due to the growth in students population.
The Master Plan was generated in several stages, programmed up to the Year 2019 as the completion date. Every 2 years, new buildings will be added and changes to the infrastructure will be made.
Our company has participated in the design, project development and supervision of the first 2 building complexes.
In 2014 the first building was erected, including three clasrooms for 5th and 6th grades, plus restrooms for the sports area and a room dedicated to arts and crafts.
The architectural design was conceived as two stories modules, placed in a fractioned way and sugestively placed in an sequence as to fade their presence among the woods in which they are located. The building is placed at the edge of a hill, making it possible to enjoy the vegetation as a backdroop for the clasrooms. At the same time, the classrooms are oriented to enjoy the top of the trees and its ambience.
Construction of the second building came in 2016, including two modules. The first one were classrooms for high school and an auditorium. The second module houses the administrative offices.
It is important to note that the design of this building was set, making the volumes float in direct relation with the existing vegeation, thriving to generate a dialogue between the volume of the building and the existing trees.
Exposed concrete was chosen to accentuate the natural character of the surroundings. The forms for pouring concrete were made of rustic wood in order to establish a direct relationship between the woods and the texture on the walls. For the floors, traditional terrazzo was used in a contemporary manner.