The municipality of Bottanuco, a small Lombardy town nearby the Adda river, needs to create a new school campus with a new elementary and middle school, integrating them with the municipal sports campus in the adjacent lot.

The school complex we have designed is envisioned as a composite and organized organism. The elementary school, located to the north of the lot, is a large circular courtyard that constitutes a protected play space for children. The middle school with its large gymnasium is positioned at the southern edge of the lot and has a U-shaped layout facing the multipurpose building located in the center of the lot. This latter building leads towards the sports fields and has a strong expressionist characterization.

The architectural image consists of two figures corresponding to the two levels of the schools. The ground level is composed of glass with wooden uprights, connections, and porticoes that distribute the flows of the entire complex, ensuring visual and functional osmosis between the interior and exterior and among the various parts of the complex. The second level, corresponding to the first floor of both schools and the laboratories of the central building, is a large metal roof that presents the image and status of the public building towards the town. The image engages in a dialogue with the discontinuous landscape of the Pianura Padana and the large productive and commercial buildings that characterize its fabric.

The complex is conceived through the articulation of spaces that combine with each other: from those ensuring levels of privacy and tranquility, independence and autonomy, to others that invite participation and dialogue with the city and the sports complex.

The central body of the complex is the civic heart of the project. In addition to educational activities (workshops, cafeteria), the building houses two spaces: the auditorium on the ground floor and the library on the upper floor, designed to integrate learning activities with community service, configuring itself as a true Civic Center. The position, directly overlooking the square, allows the complex to open up to the town, and the ground floor is conceived as a natural extension of the collective open space.

• Assignement
  Project competition
• Status
  2nd prize. Unbuilt
• Client
  Comune di Bottanuco
• Budget
  € 7.500.000
• Size
  6.525 m2
• Consultants
  Hortensia garden designer
  Tekne Spa
• Team
  ABA - Andrea Borri Architetti
  Lorenzo Consalez
  Tenet - Chironi Passamonti architetti
  Marta Giulia Micheletti
• Images
  Vedo. architectural visualization