Dunalastair

Dunalas­tair British School gymna­sium has been included as part of the complex of the Dunalas­tair British School in Sant­iago, Chile, located in the Commu­nity of Peña­lolén, which is charac­te­rized for being a tradi­tional, slightly urba­nized rural area.

Mrs. Ada Crew founded Dunalas­tair (Alexander’s Fort) in 1937, as a bilin­gual school that offered a British type of educa­tion. The School’s name is taken from the once resi­dence, and still burial ground of the chiefs of Clan Donnachaidh, in Perthshire, Scot­land. The clan is one of Scotland’s oldest, and dates back to the time of Scot­tish unifi­ca­tion. Its name (Sons of Duncan) can be traced back to the king that, in Shake­spearean lore at least, was murdered by Macbeth. The clan’s motto, Virtutis Gloria Merces, has been the School’s since its foun­da­tion, and means glory is the reward for valour.

Construction

Dunalas­tair British School gymna­si­um­con­sists of two concrete volumes (invested with bricks) at each end,  making up the most hermetic space of the struc­ture, holding the stage, toilets and storage rooms at one end, and the dres­sing rooms at the other end.  A lighter struc­ture in between, holding the play­ground and blea­chers, is totally acces­sible from the school.

Acoustics

Due to the multi-purpose use of Dunalas­tair British School gymna­sium it was neces­sary to improve the insu­la­tion and acou­stics of the premises by using an inte­rior finis­hing with MDF boards, veneered with natural wood, in 2 diffe­rent formats:   a) On the ceiling, through the original modu­la­tion of the manu­fac­turer in 6 x 100 inches strips, 1” apart,  lined with an acou­stic insu­la­tion fabric in the inner side, in order to reduce reso­nance, and   b) on the walls, 2 x 4 feet panels drilled with holes of diffe­rent diame­ters that would let the light get through, with the same acou­stic objec­tive but aimed to simu­late an inte­rior vegetal land­scape as well, ther­e­fore provi­ding an atmo­sphere connected to nature.