University of Puerto Rico designed by Toro Ferrer Arquitectos, Located in the Northeast quadrant of Campus, the General Studies School has served as a threshold to thousands of students since the late 1960s. A constantly growing student population called for a substantial addition to the existing faculty building.
Photography: Raquel Pérez Puig
The addition is a four-story reinforced concrete annex building which forms part of a new Master Plan and marks a new entrance to the eastern edge of Campus. Its east façade includes a monumental sculpture by a local artist in colored perforated aluminum that provides sun and hurricane protection. Bas-relief concrete walls with punched openings allow breezes and light to filter through and recall the pattern of the sunscreen. Photography: Raquel Pérez Puig
The new building?s ground floor is a multi-functional open space adaptable to the wide needs of this school. Levels two and three contain classrooms oriented to the tree-filled quad to the west while faculty offices behind the colorful sunscreen are oriented to the campus entry to the east. A fourth level contains the bulk of mechanical spaces. All levels and both sides of the building are unified by a multi-level sky lit gallery which serves not only as a place to meet but has a very important climatic role as it funnels cooling breezes throughout the building creating is a chimney effect.
Site
The selection of materials such as exposed reinforced concrete and aluminum louvered...