Lyrical geometry - architect Carme Pinos designs new school building in Morella, Spain

Architectural Review, The, June, 1996 by Raymund Ryan

Another positive factor is the absence of corridors. Even in the dormitory wing with its concatenation of six and eight person bunkrooms, the access route swells and dips to encourage small meeting points and visual stimulation. The trick here (with boys at one end and girls at the other) is to again tuck washing facilities back, and half-a-level down, into the natural slope and to simultaneously offer glimpses outside. Thus some sleeping space finds itself above the showers of the floor below, both chambers in this condition availing of the notch in the zigzag configuration for air, light and occasional views.

The school at Morelie is a kind of Brutalist concerto, a successful experiment in poured concrete and steel. These materials remain undecorated, except for the red-painted gates, but adjusted to patterns of human use. The quality of light is splendid throughout, with clever use of clerestories illuminating paths and soffits and with polished floors allowing light to bounce about the interior. Everything is legible. The essence of Pinos' architecture is to augment her site by an empirical fragmentation, which is not about academic theory or complication, but the plain pleasure of construction.