King George is a dynamic language center from Canada with 5 branches in Mexico, four of them in the state of Veracruz and one more in Hidalgo. With more than 5,700 graduates based on an offer integrated by seven different languages, this school has consolidated as one of the pacesetters of its niche. As part of its expansion plan they have turned to architecture for expanding the learning experience.
This branch of King George Language Center answers in great measure to the demand and dynamic that the student population has in Veracruz´s state capital. The foundations of the intervention are sustained by the required special needs, the condition of transforming an existing building to which the architectural project should be adapted and the search to fusion the current space with the teaching approach methodology.
The project focused in two strategic lines of action: the first seeks to satisfy the school´s special needs taking into consideration that the configuration of the space was restrained by the preexistence of the original building in terms of its structure and spatial distribution. The second was the requirement of providing the best possible experience in all the project areas: from the reception, waiting room, teacher quarters and the circulations leading to the classrooms, fostering a memorable experience in each route. The proposal uses materials that permit the future change of the spaces and that also translate in a playful way the institutional colors (green and white) balancing the artificial lighting with geometric patterns, plafonds and decorative vinyl.
The project´s development was divided In two classrooms blocks articulated by the vertical circulation of the existing building and the services, considering the maximum organization of the construction team to guarantee the general operation of the property and understanding the logic for reusing the mayor amount of the available resources during the whole process. At the same time was done the selection of current furniture and design of what was missing in each area. In each case the work was done in collaboration with other professionals to achieve the best design in all the spaces.
The architectural intervention and interior design outcome guarantees the language center functionality and promotes the right environment to achieve the pedagogic goals planned on each space, taking into account the age diversity, type of users and programs given in each of the classrooms.
