School in Porto

The architecture Project
We received the extraordinary opportunity to design, build and license a school in Porto. At the bottom was the planning of the growth of a crèche and nursery school and its expansion to host the first cycle of basic education. From the architectural point of view, it is about merging two single family houses and expanding the building with a new body. That is, to rehabilitate one part of the constructions and build another part from scratch. Obviously, it was also essential to give consistency to the set of distinct spaces. There was also a need to redesign the garden and ensure that it was present in all areas of the school. At the same time, strict cost control had to be taken in order to ensure the future sustainability of the investment.

The challenge of drawing for children
This was possibly one of the biggest challenges we had as architects. But the biggest challenge did not come from technical, architectural, regulatory or economic issues. The biggest challenge came from the fact that we felt we had an obligation to draw for children.
Those who educate or teach, those who have children or those who live with children usually know that this theme is fundamental and a task never completed. So we asked the question: how to draw children? We then think of children’s drawings and the symbology of the concept of a school or home they always share with us. In fact, no matter how modern it may be, children continue to draw roofs and paint trees and flowers on the side.
That was it! We had to draw houses! We had to design a whole neighborhood of them if we had to! In addition, the school is called: Cuckoo Home

A house to learn
In the background, school is just a home where you learn. But it was necessary to draw this house as the children draw, in a simple, elegant and with the rigorous and accurate trait. A trait that sometimes even contains some minimalism. Yes, that was the modernity we wanted. And the garden had to enter all the classrooms! How wonderful it should be to be able to learn under a classroom that reminds us of a drawing with a roof! And the windows had to have the height of the children and not as always happens the gigantic height of adults! So, this had to be the architecture for the children!