Bringing up to date without losing the memory
Between 2020 and 2025 Clara del Río carried out a series of interventions at Colegio Nuestra Señora del Pilar, a listed building belonging to the Marianist schools network in Madrid. The work proceeded from respect for the existing architecture, introducing contemporary solutions able to improve daily use without altering the historic identity of the whole.
The project covered the staff meeting room, the head's office, the administration area and the canteen. Each space answers particular needs through bespoke furniture, a working layout and a careful choice of materials. In the administrative areas, a brown oak finish is set against the school's own colours, giving continuity, warmth and a recognisable institutional image.
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The canteen takes on a more relaxed and approachable character through Le Blanche furniture, flexible and versatile, made to suit different uses and different ways of gathering.
As part of the same process, a prototype glazed door was developed for gradual introduction across the building, beginning on the upper floor. Its design reinterprets the geometries and tones of the historic joinery, setting up a respectful conversation between heritage and the present day. Taken together, the interventions read as one coherent, working response, alive to the architectural character of the building.
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