Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Windows, Facade, CityscapeEscuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Beam, ColumnEscuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Beam, Column, HandrailEscuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Facade, Windows, CourtyardEscuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - More Images+ 65

  • Architects: Estudio Gonzalo Moure: Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Gonzalo Moure Lorenzo
  • Area Area of this architecture project Area:  5878
  • Photographs
  • Manufacturers Brands with products used in this architecture project
    Manufacturers:  BANDALUX

Text description provided by the architects. On February 15 2005, an agreement was signed between the City of Madrid and the Colegio Oficial de Arquitectos de Madrid (COAM) to coordinate a set of actions towards the restoration of the complex of Escuelas Pías de San Antón, that had suffered a fire few years before. It included an architectural competition and the subsequent development of the winning project.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Cityscape
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

The main goal of such agreement was to impulse the restoration and insertion of a mixed-use program of social interest, one that would revitalize Escuelas Pias' urban context. Such program included the new headquarters for COAM and the COAM Cultural Foundation, a nursery, a day care and senior center, sport facilities and a music school. Extensive underground parking space was also to be built, covering both the needs of the new buildings and nearby residents.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Facade, Windows, Courtyard
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

All of this should be done without interfering with the religious services that take place in the church of San Antón, included in the complex, and which is object of a restoration as well. As an indispensable condition, a public-access, green open area is set as core of the complex. The program is regarded as an opportunity to consolidate a very diverse array of activities and interests in a single architectonic response.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Windows, Facade, Courtyard
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

The total built area for Escuelas Pías de San Antón is 5878 sqm, of which 628 belong to the baroque church of San Antón, a declared "Building of Cultural Interest" by architect Pedro Ribera that is completely embedded within the complex an constitutes the only part that didn't suffer the progressive ruination that affected the rest of the lot.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Beam, Column, Handrail
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

The value that the project seeks is to create a serene -yet full of lively contentment- atmosphere. New ledge continuity in the preserved facades is also proposed, as the complex never had it, thanks to a loggia-balcony that dematerializes during the day and transforms into a vibrant lantern at night, hovering over the city,...above a garden. A place of quietude, of serenity, that embraces life,...a place for reunion. A surprise, an "accent" to the city.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Glass, Windows
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

A secluded space with an open character. A place where trees are discovered through transparency at street level. A garden in this dense part of the city...an open space that allows to breathe, where life unwinds naturally. Architectural atmospheres with a whisper-like quality to them; honest and clear construction; a doric attitude, an approximation to essence where matter reveals its natural values...the understanding that, "in architecture, honesty is an intellectual position“.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Windows, Facade, Courtyard
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

It is predominantly built with just concrete, steel, glass and golden granite. "The shade of a tree" is here regarded as a space of unparalleled value. The true transformation of an urban space is produced both through its buildings as well as its trees. If we are able to pass on a garden with trees in this part of the city as inheritance to our children, we will have built valuable urban heritage.

Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure - Image 56 of 70
© Jorge Crooke Carballal

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Project location

Address:Madrid, Spain

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Cite: "Escuelas Pias de San Anton / Estudio Gonzalo Moure" 21 May 2012. ArchDaily. Accessed . <https://www.archdaily.com/235821/escuelas-pias-de-san-anton-estudio-gonzalo-moure> ISSN 0719-8884

© Jorge Crooke Carballal

圣安东宗教学校 / Estudio Gonzalo Moure

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