Santa María School

Abstract

It stands in the outskirts of Madrid, occupying a 70,000 square feet site, and it is intended to house 500 students, including a lower school and higher school, general culture classrooms and a kindergarten. The planform is L shaped, and faces south on the inner side. The whole distribution cf the building and surrounding open spaces is planned to give the greatest possible sense of homeliness to the school. Classrooms can accommodate 20 girls, and the rooms are built in terms of a module of 5.50 by 5.50 ms. The inner space of the school is built on a different scale, to break the monotony of the classroom proportions. There are inner gardens which enable the girls to become familiar with plants and animals and thus help to become educated in biological matters. The school practices modern taeching methods, whereby children can create their own individual and collective existential environments. The first commences with drawing, painting, modelling and is completed with an introduction to the world of literature, music and rythm. The circumstances separating the teacher and pupil have changed, and in this school an attempt has been made to change the supervision of the teachers into a form of more functional approach to the pupils both inside the classrooms and in the open air playing zones. The organisation of the various school zones, the constructive system adopted, avoiding all decorative formalism, whilst trying to integrate the form and function, and the repeated use of standard units, without allowing any feature to disturb the smooth rythm of the school, are all meant to enhance the educational efficiency of this school building.