Hermano Pedro Multipurpose Special Education Centre

Santa Cruz de Tenerife · Category: Architecture · Subcategory: Civil architecture · Year: 1976 · Authors: Rubens Henríquez

This centre was built by order of the Cabildo Insular as a place of education for children with intellectual disabilities. The complex, designed by architect Rubens Henríquez, is organised through different blocks that group together sets of varied spaces and environments, suited to the type of user, with different treatments in their finishes.  

The interplay of concrete and volcanic tuffs houses floors dominated by ceramics and terrazzo, over which prefabricated pumice stone divides the usage spaces, combining simple volumes, wooden balconies and roofs with structured shapes.

The classrooms, workshops, dormitories and general services are structured through open areas formed by stepped patios that provide the whole complex with an environmental quality worthy of note.

The project was developed in 1970 and the Hermano Pedro Special Education Centre (CEE) opened its doors on 14 November 1976. At that time it was configured as an innovative centre. Today, dependent on the Government of the Canary Islands, it continues to respond to students with special educational needs who cannot be catered for in an ordinary centre.

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