Page 109 - AIT0522_E-Paper

Entwurf • Design E. Espinosa, L. Villalba, ES-Madrid
Bauherr • Client Adiestramiento Educan, ES-Madrid
Standort • Location ES-Madrid
Nutzfläche • Floor space 300 m 2
Fotos • Photos José Hevia, ES-Barcelona
Mehr Infos auf Seite • More info on page 134

DOG SCHOOL

IN MADRID

Bicho and Bomba – two Belgian shepherds –, Harris the
owl, families of kestrels and swifts, sparrows and bats,
they are all sharing a new home. Close to the Spanish ca-
pital, in the midst of fields, Enrique Espinosa and Lys Vil-
lalba have just recently completed a “School for dogs,
humans and other species”. An ecological type of archi-
tecture of old shipping containers, wood and concrete.

E cology 4.0 – or the interconnectedness of architecture and animate
nature. On not even 300 square metres, the new Educan dog
school offers plenty of space for playing and training. On joint-gentle
mats which consist of recycled synthetic material, the quadrupeds learn
new tricks and prove their nimbleness and manoeuvrability in the ob-
stacle course during the agility training. To avoid distractions, all the
wall openings start at a height of close to a metre and a half. Arranged
like that, the portholes are able to produce fascinating visual connecti-
ons for the watching people while the dogs are focussing on their play
without being disturbed. After having been used for fourteen years, six
Grundriss • Floor plan sea-freight containers have been completely re-used – their trapezoid
steel sheets now serve to cover the façades and their former basic fra-
mework spans the hall as visible trusses. Acoustically effective pyramid-
profiled foam insulation covers as well as decorates the upper half of
the façade in an abstract pattern. They are dyed in the same mint green
as the building envelope, the support structure and the ventilation
tubes and are thus part of a natural and fresh colour concept. The wea-
kly saturated, even chalky colour palette reflects the idea of recycling
and lies within the for dogs visible blue-purple and yellow-green spec-
trum. Only the peppy orange of the curtain in the dog shower as a con-
trasting colour accent is for the benefit of us bipeds. Whereas the two
training rooms, the “classroom”, even the kitchen are completely aimed
at the dog-human-team, there is a second concealed interior level, a
kind of façade- and roof interior, with 100 percent environment-friendly
furnishing of dry stalks and small branches. This is where a wide variety
of birds are nesting: At the east façade, round steel tubes with a diame-
ter of ten centimetres allow access for the kestrels; at the west façade,
a kind of cave, with a windscreen and a projecting cornice for observing
the prey, attract the barn owl; at the south façade, the large EDUCAN
letters advertise with bat boxes integrated in them; and for the sparrows
which, spontaneously but welcome, have joined the group, an additio-
Im Uhrzeigersinn: Rötelfalken-Nistkästen, Schleiereulen-Höhle, Fledermauskästen, Hundetränke und -dusche, sowie Sitzbank nal 24 nesting boxes have been mounted in the roof space.

AIT 5.2022 • 109