Las Lomas School
Guadalajara
Color and concrete. Play and concentration. The warmth of stucco in the preschool classrooms and the roughness of the single-layer render in the sports hall.
The project for the new Las Lomas public school in Guadalajara organizes spaces for learning and school life through light, color, and texture.
From the main lobby to the classrooms and playgrounds, the entire complex creates a sensory experience that accompanies the students’ growth.
The commission arose as part of a public competition, in which we collaborated with architect Ignacio Mendaro.
The program was ambitious: classrooms for preschool, primary, and secondary education; common areas; a dining hall; administrative spaces; and a sports hall all on a plot located at the urban edge of Guadalajara.
Over the nearly four years the project lasted, I was part of the team from the creative phase through to the final delivery.
It was an exercise in continuity, attention to detail, and learning a process that demanded not only fulfilling the program’s requirements, but doing so through architecture as a way of accompanying childhood.
The Transformation
The founding idea of the project was clear: the preschool classrooms would become the driving force of the entire complex.
Each one would be marked by a different color, easily identifiable from the private patios and the central hallway.
Independent prismatic volumes, separated by courtyards, form a system of light and shadow designed to play with light and evoke a sense of surprise.
Building on this foundation, the primary and secondary classrooms are organized into a linear volume that emphasizes horizontality while allowing the colors of the preschool structures to prevail.
Light is controlled by a continuous lattice screen, providing protection and softening the illumination.
The complex is completed by a ramp connecting the main building to the separate sports hall.
A school where architecture becomes play, rhythm, and materiality.
Credits
Execution Project and Site Management
Ignacio Mendaro Corsini
Blanca Rosa Gutiérrez Rodríguez (collaboration)