The German School of Frutillar is located on the western edge of the Frutillar waterfront, “Creative City” (Unesco2017), and facing the stunning natural landscape of Llanquihue Lake and his volcanoes, in Patagonian Northern limit.
After a fire that destroyed part of the school's facilities, the opportunity was generated to rethink the way in which the physical infrastructure, of the old institution, had been developed.
In the first instance, a Master Plan for the entire school site was carried out, in order to integrate the different buildings and schoolyards that have been built up over the years through internal circuits.
Considering the new profile Frutillar Bajo has acquired, as a cultural city that integrating nature with new urban dynamics, the idea of developing a pavilion on two levels that will house primary education, with the challenge of integrating spaces interiors with the natural context, expanding the educational experience beyond the limits of the classrooms.
In this point, the premise comes up, incorporating transparencies in all spaces, both recreational and educational arises. Thus it is possible to appreciate the changes of the lake and the Andes mountains from the inner schoolyards
An open and flexible conception of the classrooms necessarily implies a change in the most traditional pedagogical strategies towards a view that integrates the educational process with the experience of the exterior spaces. Experience that is deepened through vegetable gardens arranged for each room in the front of the building.
From the outside, a second challenge was to articulate a contemporary language with the requirements imposed by the heritage zone of Frutillar Bajo and the existence of another attached volume. A proposal of simple lines was developed, of gable roof volumetry very typical of the traditional architecture of the area and also a response to the weather in the region.
Contemporary architectural applications of curtain walls were integrated on laminated wood structures, transparencies, perforated metal plates with wooden coverings.
