Introduction
Since 2015, the “Bachillerato Popular - La Vuelta del Paraguayo”, was established as the only institution that guarantees the access to education rights for the adult population of the homonymous riverside neighborhood of Santa Fe city. However, the building conditions of the school are far from being consistent with the needs of the educational development of a growing school population and that, due to their conditions of social vulnerability, improving them is imposed as an urgent task. Not only the individual trajectories of students are marked by socioeconomic vulnerability – many of them live from fishing or from informal, unstable, low-wage jobs-, rather, it is based on the conditions of a territory that does not have basic services of urban infrastructure, housing, health, education and connectivity and that it is subjected to periodic self-denial as a result of the floods of Paraná River.
Impact
The riverside neighborhood “La Vuelta del Paraguayo” is made up of 140 families. From them is deduced the school enrollment of the institution, which year after year has grown and today is made up of 65 adult students who have guaranteed the possibility of resuming and finishing their secondary education. To meet this objective, in addition to organizing on a schedule compatible with the students’ work obligations, the school provides a daycare service for the students' children, so that their care is not an obstacle to the continuity of their school careers. Also, a multiplicity of recreational, artistic, sports and productive activities take place in the school building, in which around 200 residents of the neighborhood participate, including children, adolescents and adults, who find there an opportunity for social and cultural insertion and for strengthening community values and identity.
Core team
The members of Proyecto Revuelta have developed for a decade a variety of architectural and urban planning projects aimed at improving the quality of life of the inhabitants of La Vuelta del Paraguayo, among which the construction of the Casa de los Talleres, the sewerage of the main road of the neighborhood, the prototype of island housing. They have included architects, civil and water engineers, sociologists, communicators and social workers. The school expansion project is in charge of two advanced students of the university degree in architecture, Nadia Acosta and Antonela Mecchia, together with the Architects Paula Foffani and Pablo Brandolini.
Paula Foffani is an architect graduated from the Universidad Nacional del Litoral. He received his undergraduate degree by submitting a thesis titled “El rol del espacio público abordado desde métodos participativos. El caso de la comunidad Mocoví Com - Caia, Recreo, Santa Fe”. She is currently a member of the Tacurú cultural group, which develops artistic, recreational and self-construction activities; she also actively participates in Proyecto Revuelta along with another group of professionals offering their services in pursuit of the La Vuelta del Paraguayo neighborhood.
Pablo Brandolini Robertone is an architect specialized in gender studies and feminists applied to design. Since 2017 he has worked as an architect in different branches as well as in furniture design. Much of his time is devoted to research, investigating the intersection between design theory and architecture and queer and gender studies. On this subject he has given talks and workshops in Argentina, Paraguay and Bolivia, in addition to participate in international workshops. He is currently part of the research group "The common city" of the UNR-UBA and has several writings soon to be published.

Part of the team working during lockdown.
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Image gallery

Community event at the school
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Class
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Class
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Reunion
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Reunion
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The front of the school
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The riverside
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The Riverfront
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The school
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Demolition MInga
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Demolition Minga
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Saved Bricks
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Comunnity Garden
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Workshop house construction
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Workshop house construction
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An afternoon at the workshop house
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Technical drawings

Final render of the project
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Final render of the project
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Steps of the project
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Relation between the workshop house and the school
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Structural System
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Plans
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Section
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Wall Detail
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Process Model
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