According to the executive branch's plans, more than 500 schools will be built in Peru this year to close the infrastructure gap affecting the sector. This represents an investment of 30 billion soles, which also serves as an incentive for the construction industry across the country's various regions.
In this context, the urban landscape of many Peruvian towns is likely to benefit from facilities that, for many small cities, could well become iconic and even transformative elements within their urban or semi-urban environments. The precedent for this process lies in the Grandes Unidades Escolares (Large School Units) built during the Odría administration—so iconic for their rationalist architecture and masterfully executed in Lima by Alberto Jimeno. Another precedent, albeit a less fortunate one, is found in the school facilities built across many parts of the country in the 1990s. These featured an often-altered modularity and forms—accentuated by plaster and paint—that were identically recognizable in any region, as if completely disregarding the geographical and cultural specificities of Peru's diverse territory.
