“…La prima cosa che disegna un bambino assomiglia al cerchio. La gente si dispone spontaneamente in cerchio quando deve osservare qualcosa da vicino…”

B.Munari, IL CERCHIO

The project aims to desgin an educational center and focuses is vision on two aspects: the visual continuity between inside and outside and the functionality of the spaces. The architectural identity in support of these principles is aggregative and is achieved through a circular volumetric system that allows maximum permeability. Starting from the guidelines for the new schools, the new building has been designed to overcome the traditional rectangular / frontal teaching binomial in favor of a school understood as a “Community Center”, a structure open not only during the traditional morning school hours but also in the afternoon and evening.

The compositional architectural choices were guided both by aesthetic considerations and by the desire for a clear identification of the school function. In this sense, the choice of the cylindrical volume with the courtyard inside is essential and distinguishes itself from the surrounding but at the same time makes itself almost invisible.

The circle, one of the first figures drawn by children as it evokes a sense of human protection and security, represents homogeneity and absence of division, generating a space without corners and edges that enhances the organic nature of the forms and at the same time favors the perception of community and safety by its users.

The circular shape allows to distribute all the functions along the perimeter: in this way each room has a direct and visual connection to the outside. 

The distribution spaces, on the other hand, are located along the perimeter of the internal courtyard: each user will therefore be able to enjoy a constant view towards the outside.

The internal façade does not follow the same regular profile as the exterior, but expands and compresses itself, generating concave and convex spaces, which, adapting to the internal thrusts originating from the functions provided by the functional program, lead to the creation of a dynamic profile. The atrium, the library and the gym produce thrusts that lead to the definition of three curves that characterize the internal and external space.

The Agora is the result of these deformations: a continuous organic space, which offers different spatialities: sometimes collected to favor personal relationships and other times wider to favor group relationships; sometimes inside, other times open outside in the courtyard.