Post-mandatory education office

The new office of the Barcelona Education Consortium for professional Education is a centre created with the aim of managing the growing demand for these kind of studies. It is located in a ground floor commercial, open to the street, which had no special features apart its generous interior height.

The time management strategy.

The urgent need and the short time available led to an “express refurbishment” approach: in January 2022 the space was available and in March it had to be open to the public. So the refurbishment was designed and built at the same time. The design decisions were linked to its immediate executability (constructive simplicity, minimum trades, workshop work, recycling).

Recycling between projects.

While we were starting the process, we realised that a previous work of ours, the temporary school in Can Rosés, was being dismantled. We were able to take advantage of the deconstruction of this ‘exhausted’ work and include it in the new refurbishment. So the new reform includes the same elements that made up the school, reorganised for new uses. We took advantage of the wooden partitions and the modular lights. We extended their lifespan, giving them one more temporary stage. Open source design.

Occupation of the void.

The space was emptied and stripped, revealing its interior height. A large 4.50m high room with light coming in from both ends. A new lower scale spatial order was created in its interior, which defines the new programme and enables the new uses. The partitions divide the elongated space into three functional areas (waiting, service and internal work), and the interspaces contain two toilets (public and private). Its low height and warm materiality domesticate the space, welcoming the visitor. The lights have been placed to generate a continuous, abstract pattern that defines a new virtual ceiling plane.