Becomes an Integral Part of The Community Merging with The Urban Fabric
Turin-based architectural firm BDR bureau has completed the transformation of the new Enrico Fermi School in Turin. The initiative embodies a cultural, pedagogical and architectural reflection on new learning spaces in Italian schools.
The existing 1960s school building has been extended and it is functionally rethought. The new educational needs – in which the school becomes an integral part of the community and merges with the urban fabric – represents the future of educational architecture in Italy.
The Fermi School opens up to the urban sphere through the reorganization of entrances and external spaces. The back of the existing building becomes the large new main entrance, shaping a green space which unfolds to the neighborhood and emphasizes the concept of a community school. The ground floor extends the public space, integrating a series of services open to everyone, such as a gym, library, auditorium and cafeteria.
“New spatial elements, transparencies and additions reinterpret the original structure with the aim of opening the school to the city,” architects Alberto Bottero and Simona Della Rocca affirm.
BDR bureau’s transformation mainly operates by addition: a new steel structure creates an inhabited envelope where the terraces are an integral part of the teaching program, embraces new connective spaces and works as a passive shield. The modularity of the new frame outlines a thread-like backbone, completed by a metal net that highlights visual permeability and relationship with the outside.
The frame’s compositional scheme is also repeated in the old building, whose façades are treated with a multigrain plaster, creating depth variations. The façades maintain large windows that enhance the relationship between the different volumes and the outdoor spaces, bringing new meaning to the original layout.
On the ground floor, different functions are gathered in the atrium, which connects directly with the garden and the two entrances. The atrium stretches to the upper floors via a stairwell that evokes the external architectural language.
The upstairs accommodates recreational and collective spaces, while the educational activities are organized in clusters – spatial units composed of classrooms, cloakrooms, services and informal learning spaces. The classrooms become the linkage between inside and outside, retaining a visual connection to the common space and giving access to the terraces. Just like the experimental en plein air schools, recreational activities take place outdoors, where green areas encourage students and professors to meet and exchange ideas in their daily activities.
Project: Enrico Fermi School / Location: via Biglieri 19, Turin, Italy / Architect: BDR bureau / Client: Fondazione Agnelli, Compagnia di San Paolo / Use: middle school with library, auditorium, cafeteria, gym, classrooms and public spaces / Area surface: 5,579m2 / Gross floor area: 5,096m2 / Façades: plaster, metal structural work, stainless steel wire mesh / Interior flooring: linoleum, rubber / Exterior flooring: draining concrete, precast concrete, prestressed adaxite coating / Windows: aluminum, selective glass / Ceiling: acoustic fiber plaster / Benches and chairs: VS school furniture / Pouf, small sofas, folding steel tables: Pedrali / Canteen and auditorium chairs: Infiniti / Wardrobe, bookcases, built-in wardrobes, entrance counter, cafeteria: custom-made / Cost(including furniture, technical costs, landscape): 7.300.000 € (VAT included) / International competition: first prize, 2017 / Design phase: preliminary project (2017.10~11); assigned project (2017.12~2018.1); executive project (2018.2~3) / Construction phase: 2018.7~2019.9 / Photograph: BDR bureau, Simone Bossi
