Concrete Phrontistery
CONCRETE PHRONTISTERY
Tarik Zoubdi Architecte + Moubir Benchekroun Architect
CATEGORY
Higher Education, Extension
LOCATION
El Yadida, Morocco
AREA
4382 m²
ARCHITECTS
Moubir Benchekroun Architect, Tarik Zoubdi Architecte
LANDSCAPE
Lourdes dorey, Lourdes Dorey
YEAR
2020
PHOTOGRAPHS
Alessio Mei
ARCHITECT IN CHARGE
Tarik Zoubdi Architecte
MANUFACTURERS
Balsan, DELABIE, Gerflor, Lafarge Holcim, Legrand, Lira Lighting, Lug Light, Saint-Gobain, Weber, Adobe, Archicad, Bearch, Dorma, Twin Motion, Vitra Global
CLIENTS
OCP group
ENGINEERING
Jesa
CONSULTANTS
Tarabi etudes
DESIGN TEAM
Tarik Zoubdi, Mounir Benchekroun, Marouane Chibraoui, Zahra Belquas, Mehdi Zoubdi, Simohammed Mrini, Smail Ouchakour
The OCP institut for socio-educationnel promotion is a high school project, emerged from a desire to provide a new teaching building, fit for the 21st century education, for the children of OCP group workers in El Jadida , Following a growing number of primary and middle school students last few years.
With a vision to encourage learning, sharing and interaction, the newly built high school was designed to link the old middle school built in 2017 and the OCP residential developments nearby.
To ensure the safety of students and reduce traffic flow, the car park was designed to remain away from the main entrance of the school, transforming it into a pedestrian-priority route that provides a fluid circulation between buildings.
Connecting the site efficiently was important. Students are encouraged to use the sports hall and auditorium of the adjoining middle school.
The sports area has been placed in the middle of the two schools to allow its sharing. For more safety, it remains accessible through an interior door.
The teaching building position was chosen to provide unobstructed views, from all the existing buildings, especially from the workers' apartments. It helps to dedensify this area and ensure good cohabitation between "neighbors".
The compactness of the project allowed us to shorten the distances travelled by users, especially on the first floor, where intermediate passageways have been created along the central corridor, connecting the two main staircases.
A large entrance square acts as transitional space between the school and its surroundings, encouraging social interaction, while providing a safe space for children, away from vehicles when leaving classes. This large void helps to highlight the architecture of the building.
In order to integrate the building into its context, the architecture was inspired by the local heritage of the "Portuguese city" (the flagship monument of El Jadida).
Drawing its inspiration from the city walls, the staircase takes charge of vertical movement as a symbolic existence, with a strong centripetal force so that it could be seen from the outside.
The white envelope of GRC panels, plays the same function as the mashrabiya, both as protection against the excessive heat of the sun and also as a screen sculpting the daylight, bringing poetry and spirituality inside interior spaces.
The interior "alley" that crosses the building, reminds us of the narrow and shady streets of the Medinas. It is the connecting thread linking all the spaces.
