Polo 0-6_Riva del Garda

In order to make the school a reference point for the community, the building extends beyond its “enclosure” and opens onto public space both on the eastern side at the upper ground level and on the western side at ground level, through a small square in front of the entrance that serves as a safe meeting place for users arriving at and leaving the facilities.

This space is connected to the pedestrian area of Piazza Maria Contini, which provides access to the middle school and the municipal swimming pool.

The educational hub thus displays its activities to the public: from the single entrance hall, one accesses the two main areas (the multipurpose hall, atelier and psychomotor space), which are shared by the nursery and the kindergarten, and for which an external use can also be envisaged, with additional activities planned by the future unified territorial pedagogical coordination (play space, parent-child centres, etc.).

In an evolution of the preliminary design, given that the building is intended for early childhood education—which typically favours buildings in direct contact with outdoor spaces—the opportunity provided by the site’s topography, which features a height difference of 2.80 m, was used to create a structure effectively composed of two “ground floors”.