Saraiva+Associados

On an extensive and steeply sloping development site, the new Park International School Complex is characterised by the occupation of various structures along the platforms/terraces that were created as a strategy for dominating the terrain. The plan includes all the pedagogic stages, based around four nuclei: pre-school, primary school, secondary school and a pavilion and outside areas for sports. The proposal follows a school paradigm which succeeds in combining Portuguese legislation with international guiding principles, as is the case of the Cambridge method.

Characterised by long and narrow forms, the structures compete with the horizontality of the adjacent road, and contrast with the vertical dynamic of the façade, which was created to control sun exposure. The geometry of the complex provides informal meeting spaces and offers ample access to outdoor areas. The result is a school landscape composed of flexible spaces, capable of adapting with time, with regard to both technology and the development of the curriculum, multifunctional spaces that are open to the community and essential for the regeneration of the local urban fabric.