Garcia D’Orta Secondary School by Bak Gordon

5 September 2011

Narrow skylights create bands of light across the red bright ceiling of a sheltered school courtyard in Porto, Portugal.

The covered terrace separates two new buildings designed by Portuguese architect Ricardo Bak Gordon at the Garcia D’Orta Secondary School.

The first two-storey building houses a library and auditorium, while the second has a cafe-bar on the ground floor and study rooms above.

The chunky canopy is suspended between the two buildings at first floor level and is the height of an entire storey.

Another school building by Bak Gordon also features the colour red, except it is on the floors rather than the ceilings - see the story here and see all our stories about Bak Gordon here.

Photography is by Fernando Guerra.

Here are some more details from Bak Gordon:

Garcia D’Orta Secondary School

The modernization project of the School Garcia de Orta, based on the construction of a new building, whose location, program and relationship with the existing built and empty spaces, can set a new centrality in the plot, providing the school new program areas essential to the new times.

This building, placed longitudinally in relation to school grounds, and an intermediate elevation view of the morphology of the terrain, allows the creation of a covered outdoor plaza that will serve as the epicenter of the whole school life, and supports two built spaces where we find the library, auditorium, bar / cafeteria, laboratories as well as other support equipment.

Location: Boavista, Porto
Design phase: 04.2008
Constrution phase: 2010-2011

Client: Parque Escolar EPE
Architect: Ricardo Bak Gordon

Collaborators: Luís Pedro Pinto, Nuno Velhinho, Pedro Serrazina, Sonia Silva, Vera Higino, Walter Perdigão
Engineering consultants: Estruturas BETAR, Infraestruturas RGA / BETAR, Paisagismo FCAP
General contractor: Cantinhos / ACF