Private School
Educational
Níjar, Spain
2024

The City Council envisions the creation of a high-quality school as a transformative civic project —one that responds to an urgent educational need while becoming a long-term anchor for community life, growth and opportunity within the municipality.

Níjar is a rapidly transforming territory. With 31,816 inhabitants, of whom 22.9% are under 18% (approximately 7,560 young people), the municipality reveals a strong and sustained demographic demand for educational infrastructure. Its population growth of +8% between 2012 and 2022 —six times the Spanish average and double that of Almería city —confirms Níjar as one of the most dynamic areas in the region.
This growth is not only demographic, but also economic. Over the last five years, the number of businesses has increased at twice the provincial average and four times the national average, positioning Níjar as an emerging entrepreneurial and productive hub.
At the same time, Níjar’s vast territorial scale (599 km2), its low density (52,5 inhabitants/km2), and its extraordinary environmental context —45% of the municipality is within the Cabo de Gata Natural Park and it has 63 km of Mediterranean coastline— define a unique setting.
(Fig.1) Model of the school.
(Fig.2) Classroom wing façade, with a patio associated with each classroom as an extension of the learning environment, drawing from vernacular architectural typologies of southern Spain and providing shade and ventilation through ceramic lattice screens.

Grounded in contemporary pedagogical models, the project embraces the environment as a central educational agent, echoing Loris Malaguzzi’s notion of space as the “third teacher”. Architecture is therefore conceived as formative rather than neutral.

Contemporary education responds to cognitive overload, emotional vulnerability, and a rapidly changing world that demands adaptability and collaboration. Innovative pedagogies foster autonomy rather than competition and are linked to stronger emotional regulation, a sense of belonging, and long-term learning capacity. Education is no longer understood as knowledge transmission, but as a constructive, experiential process, where learning emerges through interaction, play, and sensory engagement—reframing the school as an ecosystem for growth rather than a machine for instruction.
1. Clustered classroom wing.
2. Central cloistered patio.

A clustered classroom wing that supports flexible and social learning, with adaptable classrooms accommodating multiple configurations and informal learning zones that encourage movement, experimentation and appropriation. Visual connections between spaces promote collective learning, while human-scaled environments invite choice and independence, and a clear spatial organization supports orientation and emotional safety.

(Fig.3) Library
(Fig.4) Gym entrance
(Fig.5) Primary shared learning space

The central cloistered patio that operates as the school’s social and climatic core, acting as active learning device by promoting movement, contact with living systems, and unstructured play, key in cognitive and emotional growth.

Terracing of volumes to blend with the local urban fabric. Usable flat roofs emulate the vernacular architecture of Níjar. Reinterpretation of the courtyard’s organizing role. Use of latticework and ceramic materials. Enhancement of the quality of the educational experience through the optimization of spatial conditions, such as north-facing orientation for optimal lighting. Nature is incorporated as part of an immersive pedagogical experience trough the creation of outdoor classrooms.

Reinterpretation of the traditional institutional typology —the porticoed cloister with a tree-lined courtyard— to provide the school with an iconic space and strong identity. Drawing on collective memory and fostering a sense of belonging, this space houses communal functions such as the dinning hall, library, gymnasium, and auditorium. Nature is integrated into the courtyard, acting as a climatic element and creating a refuge that welcomes and protects the students.

While architecture can only go so far, the project seeks, from a humble and conscious position, to engage with the questions raised by numerous speculative and innovative projects documented in pedagogical research that gathers experiences that challenge modernist orthodoxies, colonial legacies, hierarchical models of instruction, while imagining participatory, inclusive and socially engaged forms of practice.

From the reinterpretation of Bauhaus pedagogy as a process of “unlearning”, to movements advocating design for all abilities, networks supporting woman in the built environment, and experimental studios proposing alternatives to dominant paradigms, these initiatives operate as probes into what architectural education could be.

Client
Private

Status
Concept Design

Design dates
2024: Concept Design

Program
Primary and Secondary Educational Facility

Team
Equipo.exe x ABC Mad
Marta Benito, Alejandro Bustillo, Toni Cañellas, Juan Ginés, Santiago Gómez, Javier Martínez y Silvia Muñoz

Photography / Images
equipo.exe

Budget
9 M €

Gross area
6.855 m2