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Children Village of Canuanã
Children Village of Canuanã.
It is the continuum, the vastness, and a faint imaginary line at the edge of the cerrado that embraces the journey and the knowledge of the Brazilians who live in this central region of the country. The architecture proposed there could be no different from such a setting. It is this expansiveness that moves us, together with the beauty of the people who inhabit it. Yet how does architecture marked by its own memories, techniques, aesthetics, and rhythms become relevant to a place like this? How do we engage with a site where the prevailing culture modernizes itself and sheds any memory in pursuit of a dream of progress reproduced by the media? How do we intervene in a place shaped by the manual labor of farming, by indigenous cultures, and by an enchanting natural force? How is it possible to fuse culture and nature within an architectural program as particular as children's housing in a boarding school?
With these questions in mind, the project moves toward transforming local conditions, toward cultural reflection, toward encouraging local building techniques, together with building a sense of belonging — something essential to the development of the children at the Canuanã school. How do you design a housing space for children aged 13 to 18 who live in a remote place in central Brazil? What is the right scale for these children, who every day interpret their surroundings from a different point of view and a different scale? To properly understand this scale, and to propose a relationship of belonging that shifts the school's identity from a purely educational place to one that is also a home, we carried out inclusive workshops with the local community, teachers, administrators, and, above all, the building's own users: the children. The process moves through phases of research, immersion, and collaboration with everyone involved, seeking a shared understanding of the problem and of the possible solutions arising from a dialogue between contemporary technique and local vernacular knowledge. The new organization into villages is grounded, first and foremost, in the need to add value to the entire existing complex, as well as to strengthen the students' sense of belonging to Canuanã — to demystify the school's status as merely a place of learning and turn it into a territory with the value of a home. To that end, the new housing is organized into two villages, one for boys and one for girls. This separation already existed in the previous housing and was maintained for operational reasons; however, in this new phase the housing will no longer consist of large dormitory halls, as before, but of 45 units housing 6 students each. By reducing the number of students per room in this way, we aim to improve the children's quality of life and sense of individuality, and, as a result, their academic performance.
The new housing is no longer located at the heart of the farm, as it was before, since that area should now be occupied by programs directly related to learning. The new villages — more open and airy — are located at strategic points that guide the farm's future growth, organizing the territory and enabling a clearer spatial and functional reading of the school. In both villages, the dormitories are located on the ground floor and open onto verandas and courtyards. In the overall sizing of the work, priority was consistently given to shaded common areas over enclosed ones. In a territory like Brazil's — and especially in a place like the one these dwellings occupy, where the heat is intense and constant — it is shade that establishes a space for gathering, a free space for imagining, a minimal condition for living. On the floor above the dormitories are the various communal spaces: a TV room, a reading area, verandas, courtyards, hammock spaces, and more. All of these new programs, complementary to the housing itself, were conceived together with the students, with the aim of improving their quality of life and strengthening the bond between students and school. A light metal roof with a single slope is supported by a glued laminated timber structure set on a constant 5.90 by 5.90 meter grid, interrupted only at the three courtyards of similar dimensions. Together, the roof and veranda not only provide protection from sun and wind but also create a space that merges interior and exterior, marking the vast horizon and framing the landscape. The decision to use glued laminated eucalyptus timber came from the material's abundance in Brazil, the lack of timber use in larger-scale buildings, and all the benefits that a light, slender structure could bring to the project.
To ensure good thermal comfort in the dormitories without the use of air conditioning, we turned to rammed cement-soil masonry, cast in place. Made to specific dimensions, the bricks were produced using earth from the farm itself, reducing transportation costs and enabling a prefabrication system for natural elements in which the knowledge of the making process could be shared within the community itself.Ultimately, the project for the new villages aims to raise the children's self-esteem, foster their individuality, their sense of belonging, and their environmental responsibility, and, above all, their academic performance, through the exchange between local knowledge and the potential of the building itself.
Authors Gustavo Utrabo, Pedro Duschenes, Adriana Benguela, and designer Marcelo Rosenbaum
Team – architecture: Marina Oba, Ana Julia Filipe, Yuri Vasconcelos, Gabriel Tomich, Nicolie Duarte, and Hyruan Minosso
Consultants:
Timber structure design and execution; Ita Construtora
Landscape design: Raul Pereira Arquitetos Associados
Lighting design: Lux Projetos Luminotécnicos
Foundation enginer: Meirelles Carvalho
Acoustic and thermal consulting: Ambiental Consultoria
Electrical and plumbing design: Lutie
Flooring design: Trima
Construction: Inova TS
Site management: Metroll
Location Formoso do Araguaia, Tocantins – Brazil
Design year 2016 - Construction year 2017
Area 23,344.17 m²
Photography: Jesus Granada
Photography BW: Gustavo Utrabo