andrés jaque plans the reggio school in madrid as a complex, vertical ecosystem

international architectural practice andrés jaque / office for political innovation has released the plans for the reggio school in encinar de los reyes, madrid, whose construction is expected to be completed by the fall of 2020. based on the idea that architectural environments can prompt in children a desire for exploration and inquiry, the school is designed as a complex, vertical ecosystem that makes it possible for students to direct their own education.all images courtesy of andrés jaque / office for political innovation

promoted by the reggio center for pedagogical research and innovation (CIIP reggio), that with this project consolidates its presence in madrid, the school allows students to direct their own education through a process of self-driven collective experimentation – following pedagogical ideas that loris malaguzzi and parents in the italian city of reggio nell’emilia developed to empower children’s capacity to deal with unpredictable challenges and potentials. within this framework, andrés jaque / office for political innovation has planned the building as a multiverse, which operates as an assemblage of different climates, situations, and regulations.

classrooms for younger students are placed on the school’s ground floor, while on the second floor, students in intermediate levels coexist with water and soil tanks that nourish an indoor forest reaching the upper levels under a greenhouse structure. classrooms for older students are organized around this inner forest, as in a small village, implying an ongoing maturity process that is translated into the growing capacity of students to explore the school ecosystem on their own. as well as containing the classrooms for intermediate and older students, the second floor also acts as the main social gathering space of the school.

more than 26-feet high (eight meters), the big central space of around 5,000 square-feet (465 sqm) in the empty area around the roots of the inner forest provides a cosmopolitan agora where vegetation, water, and soil frame a changing program of gymnasium, art classroom, conference and events hall, and gathering space for school assemblies. 

‘services, waste management, and storage are part of the processes the school’s architecture provides access to,’ explains the new york and madrid-based studio. ‘thanks to this material-transparency dynamic inserted in the circulation system of the school, students and the educational community can grow and evolve around common discussions.’

project info:

name: reggio school

architect: andrés jaque / office for political innovation

team: roberto gonzález garcía, luis gonzález cabrera, alberto heras, paola pardo- castillo, juan david barreto, inês barros, ludovica battista, elise durand, bansi mehta, jesús meseguer cortés, alessandro peja

location: encinar de los reyes, madrid

structural engineering: QL engineering

services engineering: JG engineering

quantity survey: dirtec