Fashion Behind Bars

This project consists of the creation of a fashion school in the former prison of the city of Mataró, currently in disuse. The building occupies a prime location in the historical centre of the city. It is easily accessible and surrounded by a shopping area.

With the rehabilitation of this building the idea is to revive a key zone of Mataró. The creation of a fashion school responds to the idea of training high quality professionals in the field so as to enliven the city’s textile sector and turn Mataró into a point of reference for the Catalan textile industry.

The rehabilitation would be carried out with a minimum degree of impact on the building of the former prison, respecting it as a key element of the project, with the design of the rehabilitated building grounded upon it. The guiding criterion involves maintaining and rehabilitating the space.

The principle is to move from a rigid, closed space on the outside, into an open, flexible and updated space in the interior. Various interventions are made to open up new entry points, allowing for new circulation patterns and relations that previously were not present. In this way it will be possible to break out from the high, narrow hallway that divides the building. Furthermore, an intervention would be made on the façade of the courtyard so as to strengthen this relationship between the interior of the building and the courtyard itself, thus allowing for a greater presence of natural light.

Various design criteria have been followed throughout the entire school in conserving certain materials and adding new ones. A limited selection of materials has been employed, including steel, microcement and wood, with white finishing, and this has been repeated in various spaces using similar terms. The white tone is predominant in the finishing, creating environments that are neutral and diaphanous, contrasting with the use of steel and wood as well as the already-present stone of the walls.

The school has a capacity of 283 students and the rooms are adapted to its specific activities so as to improve student productivity, ensuring the quality of the space for those studying and for those there employed.