Scuola Panoramica
Competition entry for the new Scuola Panoramica primary school in Riccione (Italy).
A clear building separating a public outside, for the city, and a private inside, for the kids.
Also a new piece in the city, aiming to restore some urban quality to the contemporary city.
One part of the city
One of the key factors in the development of the new Panoramica school’s project is its position within the city, that involves spatial relationships, physical connections, paths. It is about the built city, made of masses and voids, buildings, squares, gardens; the city where the outside space is public and the interior one is private.
The project is set apart from the surrounding suburbia, with its narrow sidewalks alongside the properties’ fencing, and where residual spaces are dressed up as gardens. It tries instead to restore the right character to a public building, the school in this instance, by shaping up a new urban space: a new square, the school building and a new public park.
Along with the new square, the circulation is reorganized as well: the sidewalk on via Panoramica is significantly widened, allowing for a new bike lane, whereas on the other side of the plot a new one-way parking lot provides teachers, parents and citizens with a new safe place to park and reach the school.
An introverted building
The wall has again the role of separating the outside, the space of the city, from the inside, the space for teachers and kids. The school however retains a private outdoor space: the open central courtyard, an open space, private and secure, around which the building is organized.
The building externally looks like and opaque and uniform shell, with the roof sloping towards the inner courtyard where the strict geometry is interrupted by a playful window looking towards the sky.
A flowing diagram
The building is a flowing ring-like space around the inner courtyard. Two rows of supporting walls hold the roof and set a rhythmic framework.
Within this framework, the space is customisable and flexible so to respond to the different future needs. The class spaces are defined with double-sided wall units, while the entrance hall, the cafeteria and the workshops are all part of the same space that permeates the whole building. A circulation ring next to the inner courtyard allows to merge spaces when needed, through operable wooden partitions.
