Trailer Rethinking collective spaces

You will immediately think of your father, your mother, school and television. But that is not it. Your most immediate educational sources are mute, material, objectified, inert, purely present. Yet they speak to you. They have their own language of which you, like your peers, are an excellent decipherer. I speak of objects, things, physical realities surrounding you. On this I will have some topical observations to make, contrary to what you expect. The language of things, from which you received your first education, is not a pain in the neck, believe me.

- Gennariello, Pedagogical Treatise, Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1975

A collective space, whether it be a school, a workplace, a meeting place, or one dedicated to sport and culture, should be intrinsically characterized by a tension towards social responsibility, which is variable and flexible, capable of housing and welcoming communities. Starting from these reflections, the lesson examines several case studies that testify to the evolution of spaces for collective use, passing through different scenarios and design methodologies that distinguish the work of Settanta7 and C&P Architetti.

On the one hand, Settanta7's work actively explores the theme of school spaces and more widely of cultural hubs, starting from the main references - such as Richard Neutra’s Corona School - and proposing new contemporary models where space itself becomes the “third educator”.

A flexible design, an open and permeable approach, aimed at “oxygenating” places through functional and expressive contamination. Schools, conceived as multifunctional hubs, are linked to the territorial context they are set in, in the attempt to concretely link the city not only to its physical “places”, but to propose a new way of experiencing educational spaces.

The Reggio Emilia Approach suggested by the pedagogist Loris Malaguzzi identifies, in fact, school as a “lovable, industrious, inventive, livable, documentable and communicable place of research, learning, recognition and reflection, where children, teachers and families are happy”. Almost a safe and welcoming “landing place”, capable of establishing new relationships with institutions and communities. For Settanta7, designing school architecture at the service of the community is therefore a formative act that must consider countless variables, aimed at a true and pragmatic pursuit of sustainability, which can be environmental, economic and social at once.

Some examples are the schools of Monteroni d'Arbia, Clusone, San Carlo Canavese and Sesto Fiorentino, buildings where shared and everyday living takes shape around the idea of “microcosm” or “agora”, giving life to new spaces, versatile and capable of transcending the constraints of traditional typological design. New technologies, the use of wood in all its forms: new spaces.

C&P Architetti focuses instead on spaces for work, production and retail, designing projects capable of creating an expressive identity.
Different contexts, different workers, different languages: a single approach and the idea that the places created must be experienced and modified by those who really “inhabit” them every day. Man at the center, in an action of “space appropriation”: almost a form of “resistance to architecture” that sees space as a “host” (from the Latin meaning of hospes, he who hosts).

Starting from references such as the Johnson offices by Frank Lloyd Wright, the Botter HQ, Sai Industry and Sun68 become contemporary and concrete examples of this way of operating, focusing on the place and people, knowing practices and offering solutions, investigating new forms of dialogue.

Settanta7 and C&P Architetti’s work is heterogeneous and shares the rethinking of the theme of the community in its interpretations within space. An attempt to propose innovation, integration, and vision, looking to the future.

Learning objectives:

• The lesson offers an excursus on school, cultural, workspace and retail architecture in different territorial contexts, addressing the importance of rethinking collective spaces where “relationship” is at the center of the project;
• The planivolumetric and program solutions of the case studies will be explained, from concept to execution, from diagram to practice, in the relationship between the interior of the premises and the city that contains them;
• The methodological processes of design and implementation will be investigated, starting with the use of BIM as a tool for analysis, design and control;
• The main design, technological and material solutions will be illustrated, for research aimed at economic, environmental and social sustainability, with the consequent achievement of important certifications such as nZeb and LEED.