European International School Sant Cugat del Vallès (Barcelona)

School with student residence

The aim of this project is the extension of the European International School in Barcelona by adding an extra floor on top of one of the existing classroom buildings to be used as a student residence.

The major challenge is to complete this extra new floor in the shortest possible time so as not to interfere with the normal school programme, given that classes cannot continue with the new work located on the rooftop of one of the classroom buildings. An industrialised construction system is proposed, thereby allowing the development of most of the work inside an industrial building in order to limit the assembly time in the final location to only two months, coinciding with the school summer holidays. The structure of the new floor comprises a metal structure manufactured and pre-assembled in a workshop and then moved in modules and positioned on site.

The new construction contains 26 double rooms with en-suite bathrooms, one of them specially adapted, a concierge room with its own bathroom, reception, common room and service area. The floor lies on concrete blocks upon which a metal substructure of laminated profiles has been attached, which will later receive the 16 three-dimensional structural modules.

The volumetry, position and orientation of this new volume have been established by the existing building, with an east-west orientation to the main façades. This orientation and new openings with louvre-type elements as solar protection facilitate optimum natural lighting and subsequent energy savings.

The extension project for the European International School in Barcelona is a true challenge of synchronising each of the works necessary to achieve the final goal with a surprisingly functional, aesthetic result.