When the client contacted us to take on this project, we encountered a great paradox: there was a need for new spaces (1.000 m²) and very little available buildable area.

It was a huge challenge, and that’s when the decision that would change the direction of the project was made: to build downward.

We chose to excavate the school’s courtyard by 4 meters, creating a partially underground building that would integrate with the surroundings, expand the needs of the center without compromising its essence by maintaining the sports facilities and inclusive courtyard areas, while increasing spaces with nature to enhance the well-being of students and teachers.

In the new void created, we integrated a large circular space where the courts and areas of nature and shade emerge; and, around it, as in a centrifugal movement, the classrooms, library, common areas, and colearning zones are distributed. All of this was designed with large glazed surfaces that allow natural light to flow through. The root, with its organic shape, not only recovers the outdoor space but also becomes a large agora that looks out and opens toward the new courtyard. A meeting place, a space for gathering, socializing, relaxing, inclusion, and the consolidation of the CIT community.

And as a symbol of the identity built by its founder Sonia Diez and strengthened by the new owners, Affinitas Education, we decided to preserve the large olive tree, so beloved by all, surrounding it with a large bleacher: a tribute to the memory of the place and to the future that is now beginning to be written.

Design: Espacios Maestros
Photography: courtesy CIT & Espacios Maestros