Edmondo De Amicis
- Date: Competition I Phase August 2022, II Phase January 2023.
- Typology: Competition – First Price– Site on going.
- Dimension: 4.000 m².
- Location: Beinasco, Italia.
An elementary school should be a building that helps the youngest to integrate from the first moment, a recognizable and comfortable, almost empathetic place. Therefore, form and function must come together in a perfect union that leads to the creation of this fundamental environment for the growth of future generations. Therefore, a container was designed that accompanies the flow of life, and that is so flexible as to create an atmosphere suitable for stimulating the many dynamic aspects of our life.
The volumes were composed for the purposes of their functionality and adaptability, arranged in a transparent circle that delimits the building and guarantees perfect practicability. The metaphor is that of a small city made up of volumes inserted in a transparent perimeter, capable of grouping all students on the same social level, creating a permeable membrane that ensures a continuous exchange between the interior and the surrounding nature, and allows the access to different spaces in an equitable way.
The functions delimited by the volumes were designed as interactable and interchangeable. The flexibility of the classrooms is given by the different mobile or transparent delimitation systems, which allow their partial closure, in fact the architectural desire is to want to put different functions in dialogue, in a dynamic way. In addition to practical purposes, the desire to physically unite two areas is an important concept, linked to the sharing and integration of the single group understood as a class with other groups that perform different social functions.
The corridors evolve from places of transition to spaces of permanence, they become living surfaces to be exploited to the fullest to give continuity to the architectural dialogue. The flexibility of the environments emerges from the school complex itself, in fact some of them can be open to the public without precluding the regular carrying out of lessons. The perfect compartmentalization of the school allows the use of those multifunctional spaces even in moments outside of school, allowing the continuous and inclusive functioning of an always active hub.
Furthermore, the interiors are designed as permeable to the surrounding nature, which expands in the park on the ground floor, in the various terraces and on the roof, just as in an urban reality different types of green surfaces are created. Thus, new interactions are generated between children and nature, which until now were non-existent in the concept of school.