This project stems from the program "Medellín, the most educated" promoted by Mayor Sergio Fajardo (2004-2007) and put into action by the Urban Development Corporation EDU. The program aimed to improve the quality of basic education in the neighborhoods exhibiting the lowest coverage in the city. The proposal was to refurbish 132 educational institutions and to build 10 new schools.
The School is located In the Santo Domingo Savio neighborhood on the northeast hillside of Medellín, one of the poorest and most violent areas of the city.
The complex topography of the lot, its irregular shape, its position as an outlook, the weather, the sunlight and the lack of public spaces in the neighborhood were instrumental in the conception of this project.
In an existing vacant lot tucked between two schools, a new building was thought up to connect them, and simultaneously, weave them into the urban structure.
The core idea was to give novel meaning to the neighborhood's expressions of spontaneous architecture such as terraces, stairways and balconies; to endow the new building with a sense of community place and belonging.
Likewise, the roof of the building was conceived as a "13,000-sq ft lookout"; a place of meeting between the educational community, the neighborhood and city. This new livable geography is open to the Immediate context in a way such that the landscape becomes a fundamental part of students' everyday experience.

Location