| Diagrams |
| Floor plans / Drawings |
| About Boutique de Arquitectura |
| Project | La Secundaria Valladolid (Valladolid High School) |
| Architects | Boutique de Arquitectura |
| Area | 240 m² |
| Year | 2011 |
| Location | Mexico City, Mexico |
La Secundaria Valladolid - Modular Shipping Container School is a project with unique characteristics in the educational field of Mexico. From the beginning of the design the goal was to do something different and innovative that would also be attractive to students. One of the most important conditions of the project was the construction time, since for reasons of the Ministry of Public Education (SEP), the facilities had to be verified on a specific date. It was the union of these two factors that led us to use shipping containers for classrooms, thus solving the problem of construction time and adding a very important recycling and environmental protection factor.
The complete project includes 15 classrooms. The first stage is made up of 5 classrooms, which include 3 classrooms for teaching classes, 1 computer laboratory, and 1 polyfunctional laboratory (physics, chemistry, and biology). Likewise, all the complementary spaces necessary for the proper functioning of the school were built: toilets (women, men and teachers), warehouses and laboratory annexes.
To make each of the classrooms or modules, a 40-foot High Cube type shipping container (HC 40" Container) divided in half was used, the union of the two pieces was made through a core of natural lighting and ventilation, with clear glass base. It is important to note that all the structural reinforcements were made based on certified structural calculation. This process was extremely complicated, since there are not a large number of projects carried out from the shipping containers.
The difficulty of the project stems from the scarcity of available information and specific construction methods for this type of modular construction in Mexico. After a long and in-depth analysis, absolutely all the structural and installation details were successfully resolved. The construction experienced several challenges throughout its duration (3 months), among which the tight delivery time, the logistics during the assembly of each container and the complexity of connecting each installation to the modules stood out.
Like most projects of Boutique de Arquitectura, La Secundaria Valladolid includes an important ecological part. On this occasion, our proposal is the reuse of shipping containers previously used for loading and unloading across the oceans. By doing this, we reduce the environmental impact since traditional construction methods that involve the use of natural resources directly on site are avoided. Likewise, we extend the useful life of the shipping containers by giving them a second use.
