El Equipo Mazzanti Raises a Perforated Concrete Roof on Slanted Columns Among the Trees of a Santa Marta School

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This article covers topics related to Landscape Design, Educational Building. At a Santa Marta bilingual school, a 524 m² student center keeps its mature trees and uses a perforated concrete roof for shade, light and air.

At a Santa Marta bilingual school, a 524 m² student center keeps its mature trees and uses a perforated concrete roof for shade, light and air.

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UNI Editorial published Blog under Landscape Design, Educational Building on Oct 10, 2026

El Equipo Mazzanti, the Bogotá practice led by Giancarlo Mazzanti, has completed a 524 m² student center on the grounds of the Santa Marta Bilingual School on Colombia's Caribbean coast. The program is modest: a place to eat, study, play and rest, plus a compact services module with bathrooms and a cafeteria. Most of the floor area is not enclosed at all. It sits under a broad, flat concrete roof carried on leaning columns, set into a campus where the mature trees were already the best shade on site.

What makes the project worth a close look is the order of decisions. The trees were not cleared and replaced with landscaping; they were fixed in place first, and the structure was arranged around them. The roof is a pattern of solids and voids that lets branches pass through, admits light, and pulls air across the deck. The slanted columns are a working response to a site where vertical supports would have landed in the wrong places. They do more than strike a pose. The result reads less like a building and more like a concrete understory.

A Roof That Takes Its Cue from the Canopy

Aerial view of the flat concrete roof slabs among dense tree canopy, with mountains and industrial buildings beyond under towering clouds

Top-down view of the flat concrete roof slabs crossed by thin beams, with a tree canopy poking through in afternoon shade

Aerial view of the low concrete pavilion among mature trees and a red play structure, with hills and cloud beyond

Oblique aerial view of the concrete roof with angled supports beneath a leafy canopy, with a mountain ridge behind under scattered cloud

Top-down view of the gridded concrete roof and long beams around a central tree, with parked cars at the lower left

From above, the center almost disappears. The roof slabs are broken into a grid of solid panels and open bays, and in the top-down views you can see a tree pushing straight through the middle of the structure. The mountains and industrial edges of Santa Marta sit in the distance, but the immediate frame is leaf cover on every side.

This is the project's central bet. A single continuous slab would have given more shelter per square meter, but it would have meant felling trees and trapping heat. The perforated roof trades some rain protection for a much better microclimate. In a hot, humid coastal city, we think that trade is the correct one.

Leaning Columns and Overlapping Beams

Slanted concrete columns and cantilevered beams over a timber deck, with children in blue shirts playing on the lawn in afternoon sun

Slanted concrete columns holding a deep beam above a timber deck, with long late-afternoon shadows across the boards

Pair of diagonal concrete struts under stacked beams, their shadows stretching across a timber deck toward a grassy lawn

Concrete beams forking from a slanted column above a gray deck, with dappled tree shadows falling across a louvered wall

Board-formed concrete beams and an angled support overlapping against a canopy of trees, with leaf shadows falling across the surface

Upward view of cantilevered concrete beams and angled columns, with dappled leaf shadows on the surface under a clear blue sky

Board-formed concrete beams on slanted struts cantilever above tall grasses, a red steel pipe frame and a slim tree under clear blue sky

V-shaped concrete struts under a raised slab frame a planted bed, with parked cars and a white fence visible in the bright daylight beyond

The structural language is direct: board-formed concrete columns tilt at varying angles, fork into beams, and pass long cantilevers over the deck. Beams overlap rather than meet at clean nodes, so the frame looks layered and slightly provisional, closer to stacked timber than to a monolithic slab. The board marks reinforce that reading and catch the dappled shadows thrown down through the canopy.

The architects describe the frame as adaptable and able to grow. That claim matters more than it might seem. A school campus changes constantly, and a structure built from repeated inclined supports and crossing beams can, in principle, be extended bay by bay without a new design idea. The leaning geometry also solves the practical problem of landing supports between root zones while still carrying the roof where it is needed.

Life Under the Slab

Board-formed concrete canopy on angled columns sheltering people at tables, with tree branches overhead and dappled shade on the deck

View from under the board-marked concrete soffit across long timber tables toward children playing on a sunlit lawn

Flat concrete canopy on slanted columns above picnic tables, with dappled shade from large trees and students eating lunch

Underside of the board-marked concrete slab with tilted columns above a timber deck where children and adults sit at tables

Angled concrete columns holding a cantilevered slab over a wooden deck, with two people walking past picnic tables in low light

Tilted concrete column and cantilevered beam above a deck with wooden picnic tables, set among large shade trees

Board-marked concrete column leaning over a timber deck with orange chairs and a round table, ferns and a tree trunk beyond

Angled concrete columns and cantilevered beams over a timber deck with red chairs, under strong afternoon sun and tree shadows

The real interior of the project is the timber deck. Long picnic tables, round tables and bright red and orange chairs sit beneath the soffit, and the photographs show students eating, talking and drifting out to the lawn without crossing a threshold. The roof height is generous enough to feel open but low enough to read as shelter.

Because the edges are undefined, the space does several jobs at once. It works as a lunch hall at midday, a study area in the afternoon, and a place to sit and do nothing between classes. That flexibility comes cheaply: no partitions, no doors, just shade, air movement and furniture you can rearrange.

A Yellow Core for Services

Concrete canopy with long projecting beams above a yellow curved kiosk, seen past tall grasses and red pipe play structures under blue sky

Low-angle view of the concrete canopy with upswept beams over a yellow curved kiosk, framed by a red pipe structure and tree leaves

Concrete canopy on slanted columns over a yellow-walled kiosk, seen across lawn and red play bars under a blue sky

Angled concrete columns and board-marked beams above a curved yellow slatted wall, with palms and orange chairs on a timber deck

Yellow curved kiosk wall beneath a concrete roof on slanted supports, seen across a lawn with grasses and a red swing set

Concrete roof slab over a yellow-clad pavilion seen past red steel play frames and clumps of ornamental grass in strong afternoon sun

Students gathered at the yellow kiosk under a angled concrete canopy while three boys walk across the sunlit lawn

Group of schoolgirls standing beside the curved yellow tile wall under the concrete roof edge, with palm trees in bright sun

The one enclosed element is a curved volume wrapped in yellow slats and tile, holding the bathrooms and cafeteria. Set against gray concrete and green foliage, it works as a landmark: you can find the food counter from across the lawn. Its rounded form also contrasts with the straight, angular structure overhead, which keeps the two systems legible as separate things.

Pulling all the services into one compact module is what frees the rest of the plan. Plumbing, storage and secure rooms are concentrated, and everything else can stay open. It is a familiar strategy in tropical architecture, and Mazzanti handles it with clarity and some humor.

Trees, Lawn and Play

Wide view of the concrete canopy on slanted columns, set on a lawn beneath spreading tree branches and blue sky

Raised concrete canopy on slanted columns above a timber deck with red chairs, framed by large shade trees in hazy sun

Palm tree beside slanted concrete columns and a cantilevered slab, with diners at tables and a child walking across the dappled lawn

Looking between two angled concrete columns into a shaded planted garden of ferns and palms beneath twisting tree trunks and an overhead slab

Children on a red steel swing frame in a grassy yard, with the concrete roof edge and ochre wall behind under deep blue sky

Children in blue uniforms on rust-red steel swing frames in a shaded park lawn under large trees and a deep blue sky

The center extends into its surroundings through a ring of planted beds, ferns, palms and rust-red steel swing frames. Children on the play structures appear in the same frames as diners on the deck, which suggests how the project was meant to work: the boundary between building and schoolyard is deliberately soft.

The planted gardens tucked between columns are a good detail. They pull vegetation under the roof as well as around it, so shade comes from two sources at once. The planting also keeps the deck from reading as a hard surface surrounded by grass.

Plans and Drawings

Site plan drawing showing a grid of beams over a landscaped plot between a sports field, parking lots and surrounding paths

Floor plan drawing showing a rounded service core beside a square sunken courtyard, all under a grid of columns and a wide platform

Roof plan drawing showing crossing beams, sloped drainage lines and a square opening over the central courtyard

Two longitudinal section drawings showing a flat roof on slanted struts, a hammock and tree outlines in the background

Two transversal section drawings showing a dark enclosed volume under a broad flat roof, with standing figures and tree outlines behind

Transversal and longitudinal section drawings showing a glazed room between tall columns and a hammock beneath the long roof slab

Elevation drawings of a long flat roof on slanted timber props, with hammocks, tables and a dark enclosed volume among trees

Two elevation drawings showing the thick floating roof on angled supports above a dark enclosed box, with hammock and standing figures

Axonometric drawing of a tree-filled site with a gridded roof structure, red figures, a yellow court and winding paths

Isometric drawing in blue line of crossing roof beams and slanted props around a central square opening

Exploded axonometric drawing lifting the crossed beam roof above a landscaped site with rest area, tea house, dining zone and palms

The drawings clarify what the photographs only hint at. The site plan places the center between a sports field and parking, as a buffer zone of landscape. The floor plan pairs the rounded service core with a square sunken courtyard, and the roof plan shows a matching square opening above it, with the crossing beams organized around that void. The roof plan also maps drainage slopes, a reminder that a flat perforated roof in a tropical climate needs careful water management.

The sections and elevations sketch in hammocks, tables and standing figures under the long slab, and they make the roof's thickness and float easy to read. The exploded axonometric names the zones directly: rest area, tea house and dining zone, all held under one gridded lid. Read together, the set shows a project designed in layers: ground, program, structure, then roof and canopy.

Why This Project Matters

Schools across the tropics keep building enclosed, air-conditioned blocks and then planting a few trees around them. This student center reverses that sequence. It treats existing vegetation as primary infrastructure and lets the architecture fill in what the trees cannot supply: a level floor, a roof where rain needs stopping, and a place for food and toilets. The climate work is done by voids, shade and cross-ventilation, not by mechanical systems.

It also shows that a small budget-scale building can carry a clear structural idea without becoming precious. The leaning columns and overlapping beams have character, but they serve the trees, the program and future growth. For anyone designing campus space in a warm climate, the lesson is simple and transferable: survey what is already giving shade, protect it, and design the roof as a partner to the canopy.

Student Center at Santa Marta Bilingual School by El Equipo Mazzanti. Location: Santa Marta, Colombia. Area: 524 m². Year: 2025. Photography: Alejandro Arango Escobar.

About the Studio

El Equipo Mazzanti

Official website of El Equipo Mazzanti, one of the studios behind this project.

arquitecturaviva.com

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