Barcelona School of Nautical Studies (FNB)

The project aims to transform a given volume, which we find too imposing, into a more articulated geometry where open courtyards with views of a privileged environment organize the program and shape the new volume.
These courtyards allow us to provide natural light and views to virtually all rooms, facilitating air circulation throughout the building. In order to address the complexity of a certain part of the program where it is necessary to span large distances, which would imply large beam dimensions, we make the walls of the large 30-meter-long wind tunnel room function as two pre-stressed wall beams that solve the covering span of the hydrodynamic testing channel, leaving the required height free.
We choose to offer the most privileged part of the building to the nautical school, where all its rooms will have views of the sea. The circulation spaces, so active and important in educational buildings, will be illuminated and ventilated through a central courtyard where we place the connecting staircase, seeking diagonal views towards the sea. Students will be constantly aware of the privileged location of their school.
Given the need to work in concrete due to the complexity of the structure, we decide to express the plasticity of the building in the interplay of two materials: concrete, which resolves the visible structure supporting the front volume; and the opaque panels of the facades and the treated plywood, with which we create a brise-soleil that protects us from the sun and provides privacy.