The management of the Colegio Hispano Inglés wished to cover the sports grounds while also fitting the resulting space to make it more versatile. It was a matter of laying out a light and dismountable cover, separated from the plot limits, of sufficient dimensions and height to allow multiple year‐round uses. The intervention included the refurbishing of the entrance and street‐facing enclosure. The Works constitutes a second phase in the process started at the site in 2014, following the development of a Master Plan of interventions and the addition of an elevator in the renovation of the main staircase.
The project’sfocus was suggested by the site’s location on Santa Cruz’s rambla (a road that is covered by thick laurel trees, with heavy traffic and a main attraction for local strollers). We were persuaded that the required volumen would address the difference in heightand would look over a uniquely relevant urban space. Thus, westrove for a certain neutrality – white planes as a luminous and discreet background to the rambla. The enclosures only add texture or transparence. Behind these, a sevenmetre‐ high elevatedlid, externally covered with a ribbed skin of lacquered alluminum bars, can be seen floating from the street, while the interior is in turn covered with a pressed woodboard that secures acoustic absorption. A warmer interior reinforces the laminated Wood pérgola in the space dedicated to the tiers.
The cover seeks to be discreet while actively adding to the site’sstrategic location within the city. From the street flow, one can adopt multiple viewpoints at different speeds and various times. The shades play with the polished relief of the urban façade, whose syncopated rhythm alters the perception, stimulated by speed. In this way, the Colegio emerges discreetly when we look at it while moving.
