New School in Monteleone di Puglia
In a prominent hilltop position, the town of Monteleone consists essentially of an ancient nucleus, accessible by the ridgeway road which passes through it, and some districts built along the roads linking it to the surrounding area.
The site is on the edge of the urban centre and forms a natural projection towards the valley below. The project for the new strategic building to serve as an infants, junior and middle school complex, derives from a study of the relationship between the town’s central squares and the area to be redeveloped, starting from the assumption that the choice of typology and the relationship with the land are the central foundations for appropriate building on the site.
The centre of the composition is the terrace facing the valley: a continuous flat area level with the road leading to piazza Municipio cutting through the stone wall, which is a key element in the architectural scheme.
This L-shaped wall is aligned to the cardinal axes and sits firmly on the ground determining the architectural measures and controlling the distributions system through superimposed rectilinear corridors, connected vertically by a tower lift and stairs situated at both ends.
The buildings run alongside the wall, delineating the edge of the public space bounded by the terrace piazza, open towards the west only, facing the valley, while the north and south feature buildings underneath which the spreading space creates areas protected from the sun and the north winds.
The piazza level protects the civic area below which in turns rests on the building’s base line. Above this, the construction rises over three levels, like a sort of castle built in pieces sticking to the L- shaped stone wall.
The basement where the civil protection rooms are, penetrates the ground so as to be habitable and open to the outside at the level of the lower terrace. The various floor levels, corresponding to the foundation substructures, are linked by a vehicle accessible ramp and pedestrian routes articulated in a system of stairs and steps connected to the internal distribution system.
The main buildings, which accommodate the infants, junior and middle school, converge at the entrance area. The different levels of the terraces, piazza and garden are linked by steps contained within the elemental volume of the “cover” which borders and protects the north side of the central level.
The role of “strategic building” involved researching appropriate technical solutions in the context of sustainable development and anti-seismic protection, and in particular the decision to cut the building into two independent sub-structures – one set into the ground, the other one raised – and separated from the other structure by seismic isolators.