Its innovative program and revolutionary design place Madrid at the forefront of the global education sector.
Agora International School Madrid is the first and only school in Spain to offer an International Baccalaureate (IB) curriculum specialized in the Performing Arts and 21st century learning experiences. Together with the prestigious Victor Ullate Sing and Dance Project, they have developed an educational program that since its inception has aroused the interest of students from five continents interested in taking it. Both education and cultural institutions around the world eager to learn more about this initiative, and to establish ways of collaboration that allow them to be part of it.
Shaping a unique IB program
Students who continue their studies at the school in Villaviciosa de Odón have the option of being the first young graduates with an International Baccalaureate specialized in Performing Arts worldwide. The school, part of the prestigious Globeducate group, encourages students to take charge and shape their own learning path to be able to forge an optimal future for themselves and have a positive impact on the world, becoming global citizens.
Now, Agora Madrid takes another step in its ongoing quest for the avant-garde, and hand in hand with the renowned Rosan Bosch Studio, has begun the development of a new holistic environment that motivates active learning, collaboration and autonomy, thanks to a visionary design strategically approached to support the International Baccalaureate curriculum and prepare students for the challenges of the future.
Agora’s design breaks with tradition and supports the school’s unique educational excellence. The holistic arts-based pedagogy encourages students to express themselves creatively and realize their individual potential. The design is carefully considered to stimulate pupils’ innate curiosity and offer confidence and differentiation.” – argues Rosan Bosch, founder and creative director of Rosan Bosch Studio.
The 5 distinctive elements of the educational project: IB Baccalaureate, Multilingualism, STEAM, Sport and Health, and Shaping the world, clearly mark the identity of Agora Madrid. Rosan Bosch Studio takes these elements as the generating principle of the proposal and defines with them its Areas of specialization, called Studios. The 4 Studios group and organize the concepts that cover the 5 distinctive elements, generating a continuum that puts them in relation to each other, promoting the interests and potentialities of the student:
Wellness: Health and Movement
Performing Arts: Rehearsal and Communication
Glocal: Library and Social Responsibility
STEAM: Science & Technology and Visual Arts
In the Wellness Studio, harmony and connection to nature characterize the space, allowing students to explore their physical and emotional well-being. Activities in this studio, related to movement and health, remind students that the mind and body are closely related when it comes to learning to use one’s maximum personal potential.
In the Performing Arts Studio, learning spaces promote creativity and body expression as language. It is the study of rehearsal spaces and experimentation with sound, a place to communicate ideas through artistic productions.
The Glocal Studio takes into account the diversity of society on two scales, global and local, and offers spaces to interact and establish social relationships. Located in the heart of the building, the numerous activities in this studio connect all subjects related to the development of a community. It stands out as a dynamic space that encourages dialogue and debate, and aims to motivate students to become citizens who are part of a global community.
The design of the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Maths) Studio spaces encourages multidisciplinary and transversal work with spaces dedicated to immersion and co-creation, with a degree of specialization that will multiply students’ learning opportunities.
Architecture at the service of methodology.
The new educational spaces must incorporate an ambitious vision of learning in which the exteriors of the school are activated as educational environments, in connection with the interiors and the specialized areas of multidisciplinary and project-based work, which motivates students to explore by learning, in a differentiated and particular way”.
Agora Madrid International School will be an educational reference, where the design of its architecture will be fully aligned with an innovative and disruptive education that allows teachers and students a wide range of teaching and learning situations, in line with a changing world of constant challenges, to which education must respond with adaptability and creativity, not only in its methodology, but also in its infrastructure” in the words of Luis Madrid, executive director of Agora Madrid.
Joy as a catalyst for children’s education
The first actions towards the implementation of this educational vision will be carried out in the kindergarten, black box and gymnasium classes. The design will shape stimulating and safe spaces, created with the aim of activating the senses and supporting the growth and development of each of the students. The homes for each age group provide a safe and welcoming space for the youngest children, equipped with multiple options for play and relaxation: discovery wall, meeting corner, creativity area, sensory stimulation elements and direct access to the outdoors. The heart of the children’s area, which connects all the homes together, will be a large play area where a myriad of learning experiences will be integrated, with performance and storytelling areas, a library, and spaces for the development of the psychomotor skills of the little ones.
Next to the children’s area will be the new gymnasium and the Black-Box, as the main stage space within the existing building. It will be an open and flexible space, completely surrounded and crossed by different curtains, with which to generate different areas and environments in which to carry out any type of performance or rehearsal activity. It will also have different equipment, some modular to accommodate an audience, or flexible blocks to generate small stages.
Landscape and city united in the visual identity.
The design is inspired by the privileged location of the school, between La Sierra and Madrid. The visual identity is based on the color palette and tones of the surrounding landscape, also providing the atmosphere, culture and references to the city of Madrid. Natural materials are present through the use of wood, linoleum and organic textiles, in perfect symbiosis with the exterior landscape.
Agora Madrid International School is a private bilingual school in Madrid based on educational excellence, comprehensive education and personalized attention to each student. The school is an official music conservatory and teaches all educational stages from Infant to Baccalaureate, including the prestigious International Baccalaureate.
Belonging to the prestigious Globeducate group, it is located in the urbanization El Bosque, in Villaviciosa de Odón, and has a 100% pass rate in Selectividad and a 100% pass rate in the official Cambridge and Trinity English exams. The school provides an education oriented to today’s globalized world with special attention to education in values. It offers a linguistic immersion program with a wide range of foreign languages, the National Baccalaureate, the International Baccalaureate and complete programmes in art, music and sports for a comprehensive education. The school’s goal is to prepare each student for academic and personal success.
