Primary school in Monte di Malo: a qualifying intervention for the whole community

The design is the final result of a weighting process through which the local Council has taken into consideration alternative solutions through a public design competition for the construction of the new Middle School which set, as a binding element, the construction of a building with high environmental sustainability that saw as the winner R.T.P. Arkprogetti.
The project was born architecturally as a compositional result defined by the elements enhancing the context in which it is inserted: the existing public spaces and paths, the correct exposure to the sun of the new built volume, obtained without compromising that of the existing buildings. Of fundamental importance was the enhancement of the panoramic views that characterize the context towards the valley to the east and towards the mountain to the north and west, obtained through the correct spatial and volumetric relationship of the new building with the elements enhancing and characterizing the surrounding area both in the short vicinity and long range. These elements precisely determined the choices regarding:
- type, morphology and technology of the architectural / urban organism, sizing of functional spaces and definition of mutual spatial relationships.
- the option of arranging open spaces for public use at the ground level around accessible pathways.
- architectural and constructive characteristics (dimensional, functional, spatial and technological) of the elements and parts composed in the new building.
Therefore, the integration with the context is evaluated and developed as a generating element of the design idea: the new structure becomes an opportunity and an element to collect and order the "materials" that make up the place and its urban characteristics, that is, the paths, the urban elements, open spaces and that "empty" feeling that affect the environment, the context, the landscape. Nothing is removed or limited: The importance of the public places as well as familiarization with spaces, volumes, architectures, materials, visual and acoustic sensations typical of a place, with particular harmony and comfort therefore, become essential elements for raising awareness and the cognitive growth of the children who experience it, as well as being a qualifying intervention for the whole community.

The project identifies the extension grounds in the western area of the available space for the project by providing for the construction of a "suspended" new building. The design idea is to give an architectural composition with contemporary and essential lines that immediately identifies its intended public use in the urban context in which it is inserted. The large glass surfaces, which replace the conventional concept of “window”, are intended to enhance the perceptual continuity with the external environment. As emerges from the functional design organization, the connecting spaces on the ground floor (the agora that extends and opens up to the outside environment) and the gallery on the first floor concretize the place for socializing. The teaching classes are optimized from the climate, visual and acoustic comfort point of views. They are filled with sunlight, offering panoramic views of the surrounding landscape, creating that optimal environment for the cultural growth of each individual. The "squared container raised from the ground" design, contains all the main functions of the middle school, while generating a large covered area on the ground floor in which, with the insertion of glass walls, spaces for the atrium, the main entrance and the library entrance are created. The library will have the possibility of being used even after school time.
The building, with its volumetric articulation that develops on “pilotis”, creates a connection between the main building of the existing middle school and the service building located to the north / east (gym / canteen, etc.). This connection, in addition to being important from a functional point of view, also becomes a spatial element of the architectural backdrop to the perimeter of the school environment. This, however, without enclosing it in a courtyard detached from the remaining public spaces but rather becoming an opportunity to create an additional value to the public space by creating a place integrated with the context, useful and usable for the community of Monte di Malo.

From a structural point of view, the project envisages that the volume on the first floor is “light” and, at the same time offers optimal structural performances. The volume is consisting of a box-like structure of wooden elements (Xlam) placed on a base slab created with glulam beams designed as a coffered ceiling, supported by a set of steel pillars anchored to the ground on the foundation stalls, partly wrapped in a glass “mantle” that makes up the entrance hall to the school and the library.
Environmental sustainability in architecture is not just synonymous with energy saving or consumption reduction: it is a cultural approach that pushes the Architect to minimize the impact of the building on human health and the environment through limited consumption of non-renewable resources and the use of non-harmful materials in order to safeguard the man-building-environment relationship.
On the basis of these premises, the proposed project was verified through the "Evaluation system of the energy and environmental sustainability of buildings - Itaca protocol." The Protocol guarantees the objectivity of the evaluation through the use of indicators and verification methods that comply with the standards techniques and national laws of reference.
The Protocol is derived from the SBTool international assessment model, developed as part of the Green Building Challenge research process and contextualized to the Italian territory in relation to the reference legislation and its environmental characteristics.