Elevated Sports Court at Lasalle Franciscana School in Zaragoza,

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Sumit Singhal
Sumit Singhal loves modern architecture. He comes from a family of builders who have built more than 20 projects in the last ten years near Delhi in India. He has recently started writing about the architectural projects that catch his imagination.

Elevated Sports Court at Lasalle Franciscana School in Zaragoza, Spain by Guzmán de Yarza Blache Architect

March 19th, 2013 by Sumit Singhal

Article source: Guzmán de Yarza Blache Architect

The commission is originated by the need from the school to augment the total surface of the courtyard that due to the great amount of students and parents that usually gather during the day, can sometimes obstruct the correct developing of the sports and leisure activities that should take place in it. The courtyard is 33 meters wide per 35 meters long and has a South East Orientation. It is formed by the existing school that has a U form with two wings, one from the 50´s and another one form the 70´s.

Pictures by Miguel de Guzman

Architects: Guzmán de Yarza Blache Architect
Project: Elevated Sports Court at Lasalle Franciscana School
Location: Zaragoza, Spain
Finishing Date: September 2012
Client: Lasalle Franciscanas School
Built Surface: 350 M2
Budget: 290.000 Euros
Building Company: GM Empresa Constructora
Proyect Architect: Guzmán de Yarza Blache
Survey of Construction Works: Guzmán de Yarza Blache
Collaborators: Ana Guzmán Malpica & Julien Luengo-Gómez
Quantity Surveyor: Jose Manuel Arguedas
Structure: Josep Agustí de Ciurana & PRAINSA
Photography: Miguel de Guzman
Software used: AutoCAD, SketchUp, V-Ray

Pictures by Miguel de Guzman

The fact of being a school meant that we had to accomplish the building works exclusively during the summer months. That fact made immediately think about a prefabricated concrete structure that could be built in a couple of days, and that could also solve the 13 meters distance that we wanted to cover in the ground level.

Image courtesy Guzmán de Yarza Blache Architect

The necessary elimination of the two existing trees in the courtyard gave another of the key drivers of the project; the inclusion of vegetation in the new structure. To do so we have designed a 70 metres long corten steel flower pot from which almost three hundreds of ivy plants grow, that in a few years will have covered the whole metallic bubble.

Pictures by Miguel de Guzman

That metallic bubble is formed with a double layer of galvanized steel, so one of the layers can help the ivy grow while the other one can resist the practice of teenager ball-related sports. The ground level hosts a garden-bench with an organic shape that includes different species of plants and allows the parents and the students to sit down and observe.

Pictures by Miguel de Guzman

The relation of the new volume with the rest of the school also had to be solved, for which a soft 45-meter ramp was designed to connect the ground level with an intermediate level and the elevated court. Another organic ramp was also included to let the children from the infantile area get out to their courtyard´s zone, also in the ground level and partly under the court. The later visits to the school have revealed the success of the project and its fast iconic assimilation by the students, who have kindly called it “The Whale”.

Pictures by Miguel de Guzman

Image courtesy Guzmán de Yarza Blache Architect

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Contact Guzmán de Yarza Blache Architect

Tags: Spain, Zaragoza

Categories: Autocad, School, SketchUp, Sports Complex, V-Ray

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