The structure, built in 1929, was one of the first reinforced concrete buildings in Puerto Rico, designed to accommodate the first retail department store in Ponce, within the center of Ponce’s Historic District. The main strategy was to clean-up the space and allow the concrete structure to play the main role in the overall spatial perception. Redundant walls were removed to allow for a maximum flow of daylight to the inside of the building, at the same time revealing the rustic brick wall of the adjacent building. The “L” shaped building has octagonal columns holding up beams of variable section, repeated throughout the building, and which are particularly distinctive in the 14 feet high first level. The project’s scope deals mainly with an interior conversion into a state-of-the-art, fully-digital school, an innovative approach for the architectural discipline. The design envisions a capacity of 500 students, and facilities for hi-tech production and complete digital integration.