CIVIC CENTER, NEW SCHOOL COMPLEX

The project of the new school complex and Civic Center in Settimo Torinese is part of a broader regeneration plan for the entire Borgo Nuovo district. The Borgo Nuovo 2030 program includes a system of coordinated actions across multiple sectors within an extremely populous city district, which finds its ideal pivot in the urban quadrant of the current Martiri della Libertà and Pezzani schools, the shopping center and the nearby market area on via Fantina. 

The urgency of normatively and functionally adapting the buildings of the Martiri (primary) and Pezzani (childhood) schools suggests a broad plan that sees the merging of the two institutes into a single school complex, which acts as a driving force for the regeneration of the entire quadrant urban.

The new complex will have to be configured as a point of reference for the neighborhood, incorporating Civic Center functions that can be used by citizens even outside school hours: the gym can be converted into an auditorium for musical rehearsals and performances, with a foyer on two levels available for workstations and coworking; the atrium becomes a small amphitheater for meetings with parents and extracurricular activities; the park opens up to the inhabitants with a large tree-lined filter on via Fantina. 

The new school is the driving force behind the regeneration of the entire area. Depending on the different hypotheses of placement of the new complex on the three identified areas, different structures and balances open up on the area and the neighborhood. 

The built area and open spaces build a unitary design divided into sub-areas with different identities, in a clear relationship between form and vocation.

The constructed volume is the result of actions of delimitation, subtraction, definition, from which three silhouettes emerge with an ascending profile: the low wedge of the nursery school, the open courtyard of the primary school, the highest parallelepiped of the gymnasium-auditorium.

From a structural point of view, the load-bearing framework constituting the building will essentially be characterized by a reinforced concrete frame, partly prefabricated, with pillars fixed to the foundation and hinged horizontals, and partly cast on site.