The Old Schools of Palau-solità and Plegamans. Historical study and documentary record

The Old Schools of Palau-solità and Plegamans. Historical study and documentary record

Funding entity

Palau-solità i Plegamans City Council

Period of execution

04/2024 – 09/2024

Budget

€4,000

Research team: Dr. Gemma Domènech (ICRPC) and Dr. Rosa Maria Gil

Description

Historical study and documentary record of the Old Schools of Palau-solità and Plegamans. Historical study and documentary record of the Old Schools of Palau-solità and Plegamans. Building built in 1934 in a rationalist style by architects Josep Lluís Sert and Josep Torres Clavé (GATCPAC). Currently they are the Early Childhood Education facilities of the CEIP Josep Maria Folch i Torres. In 2004, a careful remodeling was carried out respecting the original architecture. The Schools in their beginnings are described as follows: they consist of four classes of forty students, with the corresponding services. Each class communicates with an open terrace. The corridor is the lobby and cloakroom. It communicates with the outside through a porch by means of an access ramp. The W.C. and urinals have cross ventilation. Their functional structure made them comfortable, bright and well ventilated, with habitability conditions that many children could not enjoy at home. Both the materials and the workers of the branch were from Palau and the surrounding area, using common construction techniques of the time, but adding iron beams to achieve larger windows. Anticipating the expansion, it was built at one end of the site and the side facades were blind. In the 1950s, an extension was made to the west facade, without respecting the original system of autonomous bodies. Since the early 1930s, a movement attentive to social demands was developing in Catalonia and the rest of Europe, facilitated by the proclamation of the Second Republic. Living conditions had to be more favorable. This affected public and private spaces. The GATCPAC (Group of Catalan Architects and Technicians for the Progress of Contemporary Culture), founded by Josep Lluís Sert in November 1930, promoted a series of ideas to take into account when building a school: space and furniture proportionate to the child's size, good orientation and easy connection of the classrooms with the outside, good ventilation and maximum lighting. With these premises our school was built.