Old school of Solvay

The history looks to the future

The undación Laboral de la Construcción celebrates its 25th anniversary in 2019 and to commemorate this event its president, Gervasio Pinta, launches the plan to reform the Old Solvay Schools.

Within the grounds of the factory located in Barreda

(Cantabria), there is a building that housed the schools of the workers’ children. After years of disuse, Solvay decides to hand it over to the Foundation so that it can be used for the training of future construction professionals.

The person in charge of this reform

A2 has been an architecture studio that has rehabilitated both the old façade and the interior of the building, respecting the architectural value as much as possible and recovering that “old school” essence. To do this, it has relied on the work of the artists from Bathco Atelier.

Old photographs kept in the archives of the multinational company served as inspiration to create murals, toilets and washbasins customized by the artists of Bathco.

Images of the quarry, the visit of King Alfonso XIII, workers making surveys or the construction of the factory itself, among others, are captured on the ceramics to

keep alive the history of one of the main economic axes of the Besaya washbasin.

To develop this work, the artists at Bathco Atelier redesigned the images

digitally and captured in ceramic decals. These were applied manually on

Gante wasbasins and New Toledo toilets for the bathrooms and murals installed in the main hall.