Arzachena (OT), 2016

A building as a teaching tool, in dialogue with its landscape.

The volume of the building relates both with the natural difference in height and the urban scale of the surroundings, both merging in the landscape and standing out remarkably.

A school building is a public one, as such it must reveal its own institutional representative value. At the same time it must represent an urban building able to spread the echo of its presence on the nearby built context.

Despite being arranged in a single volume, the school maintains a small scale and it is in continuity with the scale of the neighbouring buildings, leaving a view of the surrounding landscape.

The building does not seek to move away from the surrounding public space, protecting itself behind fences, but stands directly on the pavement to confirm its institutional presence.

Under the entrance porch is the dual access system which allows coexistence between the Civic Center and school.

Thanks to the morphology of the roof, the structure tries to find a topic of dialogue with children who can easily recognise their own school: the building becomes an icon that is easily reproducible in drawings, creating fantastic imaginary that will remain in their memories.

The play area, whose movable walls make it functional and imaginative, is designed for collective use while remaining autonomous and personal. It can, in fact, be divided it into smaller spaces for specific educational activities.

The open spaces are visible and accessible from every room in the school. These spaces are available not only for recreational purposes, but also for educational activities through a direct observation of the changes in vegetation during the passing of the seasons.

Access to the classrooms is mediated by a space featuring a zenithal light, where children can be greeted by their parents and where they can keep their belongings in their lockers. In addition, the classrooms are conveniently accessible by children and managed by teachers, who can both take care of the individual student and the entire class.

The classroom is a wide and bright protective environment, in direct relation with the outside, where the child is an active protagonist in their own educational journey, in a space that can promote the potential and the needs of the individual and the group.