school proposal by SOL & SOL develops as ‘a village within the city’ in cascais, portugal

architecture studio SOL & SOL has redesigned a pre-existing school in cascais, portugal to generate a flexible and rational organized learning environment. the project seeks to establish an innovative architectural identity to reinforce the memory of the area with a strong urban presence. 

view from the classroom
all images courtesy of SOL & SOL

the key concept of the SOL & SOL‘s project is based on a play of solid and void. in other words, the solid (existing school) will turn into void (multifunctional open space) and the void (existing car park) will turn into solid (the new school). the structure lies in four main pillars: the school block, the public schoolyard, the ‘pinhal’ pine forest, and the infrastructure spine running along the ‘guilherme salgado’ street.

the internal corridor

the new school creates a new centrality, a ‘village within the city’ of cascais. a square perimeter that masses out the empty plot is set, autonomous and clear, as a new urban identity. the school block is developed like a village, around a central square containing the public program of the school: sports center, auditorium, and library. this square is divided into smaller courtyards, with each of them having a different identity.

the public schoolyard

the rest of the school program wraps around this central square, organized as a ‘wall of learning’ in a cloister typology. a corridor wraps the whole program. this corridor is inspired by the streets of old cascais in dimensions, materiality and livability. the corridor is a street, an atrium, a foyer. this space becomes a lobby, dining room, cafeteria, circulation, a place for interaction, a new learning environment for modern times providing formal and informal education.

view of the lobby

SOL & SOL borrowed architectural elements from the old school and the city of cascais that will remain in the memory of past and future generations. the corridor surrounding all functions is designed like the old city streets, the indoor and outdoor paved floors reminds the portuguese praça, the overall volumetry has the qualities of a real city block. the aggregation of all volumes creates the iconographic perception of the school.

perspective section

axonometric view of the program

construction phases diagram

site axonometric view

project info:

name: school in cascais, portugal
architecture office: SOL & SOL | @solandsol.co
project team: beatriz de uña bóveda jarlath cantwell pej gombert kuba kolec ori merom

designboom has received this project from our ‘DIY submissions‘ feature, where we welcome our readers to submit their own work for publication. see more project submissions from our readers here.