Escola Highscope

At a glance

Project by: Camarim Arquitectos
Location: Oeiras, Portugal

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Escola Highscope (Camarim Arquitectos)

© Camarim Arquitectos

Project images

	Escola Highscope © Camarim Arquitectos View project image
	Escola Highscope © Camarim Arquitectos View project image
	Escola Highscope © Camarim Arquitectos View project image
	Escola Highscope © Camarim Arquitectos View project image
	Escola Highscope © Camarim Arquitectos View project image

Architect's statement

The site for this school is located in a new office district in Oeiras, 20 km away from central Lisbon. The project title is taken from the Highscope learning programme, which this school will introduce in Portugal: a method in which children are incited to interact and participate in their own education, engaging them and making them feel responsible for the process, with the aim of preparing them better for adult life both in professional and social terms.

The design emerged from speculative answers to the following challenge: how can the physical environment of the school stimulate this learning process? Analysing options as contrasting as a “shoe-box”, a “porous sponge”, “2 curved wings”...we came to the conclusion that circulation, complexity and multiplicity of connections with the outside world are major factors in the daily life of the school, suggesting the link between learning and real life. Therefore, starting from the natural topography we defined a building that develops along a spiral, allowing for views of the outside and the school in perpetual change. The spiral connects the several components of the school programme and the students of different grades with intensity and efficiency, inciting interaction.

The spiral is not only programme-specific: the demands on outdoor space are very high both in quantity and varied qualities, so that kids from 4 to 14 can develop physical and social capabilities. This poses an enormous challenge for urban areas where plots are several times costlier than in low-density regions. The spiral is thus a re-invention of the urban block – the most efficient urban typology – but allowing what the traditional block lacks: free space.

The continuity between the “tilted patio” and the perimetral outdoor space is possible by means of a steel truss which allows spans around 20 m, leaving the ground virtually unspoilt. The building orientation is designed to maximize light comfort for students and to minimize heat gains, the major problem for a school in this region, as well as ensuring the maximum possible passive cooling through cross ventilation.

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