01.1.5 TOWN CHARACTER

Housing

Others

Use Housing

Cluster Row / Bar

Semi-public out door areas

Urb an gesture

Communal living a tmosphere

Comp act space

Multi-family house

Use Housing

Priv ate character

Use in rural areas

Limit ed possibility of use

Multiplication

U/H/L-shape combined

Use Housing, R ecreational

Formation of outdoor spaces

Con textual development

Urb an gesture

Modules

Use Housing

Space-saving Homogeneous building line

Clear orien tation

Multiplication

Comp act space

Hall High-rise

Use Trade, Industry, Medicine

Orien tation neutrality

Typology for special use

Demarcation from residences

Use Religion

Orientation

Space-defining Landmark

Use Housing

Space-saving

Homogeneous building line

Clear orien tation

U/H/L-shape

Use Housing R ecreational

Formation of outdoor spaces

Con textual development

Urb an gesture

Terraced house

Use Housing

Space-saving

Homogeneous building line

Clear orien tation

Single-family house

Use Housing

Priv ate character

Use in rural areas

Limit ed possibility of use

Bar

Use E ducation (abandoned)

Orien ted volume

Possibility of spatial clusters

Can be combined with

U H, L shapes

Amorphous shape

Use Religion

Signs in sp ace S tructural High-light Solit ary character

BCGZ GROUP - A JAZZ WAY OF DESIGNING

In the 1960s Italy experienced a period of social and political unrest with both strongly left and right wing ideologies existing in parallel dividing the country. In the north the majority was held by the Christian Democratic party which held a leftist-centralist ideology. This was derived from the Catholic church which remained dominant throughout the 20th century.

Within the broader leftwing political sphere there was a large number of socialist and communist movements. This included the architects of the building who all subscribed to a communist ideology. In this sense the Scuola was designed aligning with a typical socialist manifesto, prescribing form through function and creating communal and flexible spaces at the centre of the programme.

The majority of the population were Italian nationals, with only 3% of local people from other countries.

Calolziocorte has a vastly contrasting socio-political context today. Fundamentally the leading political party is Lega Nord which derives from six regionalist movements and is strongly right wing

The political climate in the north of Italy is dominated by conservation and regionalist ideology, with some threads of antisouthernist and anti globalisation and centralisation.

The majority of residents remain of Italian descent although there is a small fraction of foreign nationals notably from North Africa and Eastern Europe as well as China and South America.

Alongside permanent immigrants there is a small percentage of non-permanent residents either long stay tourists or students.

Catholicism is still the dominant religion and is still practiced by most residents.

A crucial consequence of the political and social shift is that the Scuola is left without the context in which it was built and designed for. With, no-longer, a widespread vision for a communist-socialist Italy, the building fails to accommodate modern life and education systems and this is a key reason behind the buildings closure.

The era of unrest in the late 60s reflected shifting political and social views of the era which were reflected by the architect’s themselves and are reflected in the school’s design. The main causes of unrest regarding education were:

An increase in students following the order on compulsory education up to age 14 in Italy in 1962. This however led to a strain on the now over-populated education services which historically had been carried out part-time by local community members. In 1968 protests began regarding the bias in higher education towards the upper classes and the increase in fees and came to a head in the Hot Autumn of 1969.

Public funding was generally low in the field of education and to meet the demand for new facilities for the influx in students the government sought cheaper solutions through standardisation and concrete modular construction.

Teaching was still very unequal between genders and girl’s studies focused on home-making while boy’s on vocational skills.

In the 1950s and 60s Montessori style education grew in popularity, the movement promoted independent style of learning for children which involved learning through doing, working in small focused groups and providing children with access to nature and play. The school was designed in-line with these principals primarily:

Furniture was designed to be at the heights and size of children, allowing them a greater amount of independence and autonomy in their environment.

The traditional classroom was reorganised into focused learning spaces. This was done in the school’s design through split-levels which divided teaching space from interaction focuses spaces.

The connection with nature and play was crucial to Montessori teaching, the buildings integration into the landscape created different play spaces and the large windows provides access to daylight and views of the surrounding green space.

All four architect’s were practicing at the time within a socialist mode of thinking and designing. Alike to many designers of the time in a post Facist Italy they turned to social movements as the vision of the ideal future. The school features several design principals key to social design:

Free plans and open spaces created communal and flexible spaces for the intention of gathering and sharing resources between the building. In the case of the school the lower ground rooms were intended to be used flexibly for events, group activities and communal teaching.

The modular and repetitive plan was commonplace, providing order and logic to buildings and utilising new technologies of standardisation in pre cast concrete elements. In comparison in section the building becomes more complex with split levels, double height space and cantilevered or raised floor plates.

New technological advancements of the early mid century were accelerated by wartime innovation in both the first and especially the second world wars. These events led to faster innovation in methods of standardisation, modulation and production which influenced several buildings of the time. The greatest innovation came in the form of reinforced concrete which allowed the following principles to be developed in modern buildings:

The use of precast concrete allowed the creation of several fluid and organic forms previously impossible or costly. In the school circular and semi-circular windows are used to create playful interest appropriate of the elementary school programme, this is possible due to the pre casting process. Modulation and standardisation reduced costly in buildings and were made possible with precast elements made off site Reinforced concrete allowed much larger spans which permitted the creation of open plan spaces and raised floor plates as seen in the school.