Festival dell'architettura

Abstract

The paper is about the possibility to associate some collective uses to the educative use that is the typical function of the school. Recent realizations in Brazil, taken as case studies, involve, in addition to proper teaching spaces, some spaces to be used by the entire community. Therefore, we investigate architectural devices making possible the multiple and deferred use of the building and some compositional implications related to the prefabrication as constructive theme.

Buildings for primary and secondary education realized by FDE (Foundation for Development of Education)1 from the end of Nineties in large suburban favelas of Sao Paulo State (Brazil) are part of a vast on-going schooling program started twenty years ago and represent an interesting reflection on the theme of school as pedagogical device itself and mostly as collective equipment for the entire community and not only for the mini-community of the students.

About the ways in which school plays the role of third teacher, we quote the definition of place for education provided by exponents of the avant-garde pedagogical movement named Escola Nova, that, since Thirties, became hegemonic in the carioca culture constituting the main scientific and cultural reference for the development of national education policies. Anisio Teixeira, the more representative educator of this movement, influenced by the American philosopher John Dewey, considered the learning process as a three moments set: understanding, expression and subsequent application, in social life, of what was understood and consequently he used to say that the school building was the context in which children could practice what they learned: it is not the place preparing the child for life but the place in which the child, as a part of mini-community, lives, having the possibility to interact with the adult community.

However the development of Escola Parque2 concept by Escola Nova opened a crack in the traditional idea of school building as separate and protected place3, starting the opening process of the school towards the city, that in other words stands as the opening of educational institution towards the society.

The perspective of the interaction between school and community informed the whole education buildings production by modern Brazilian architects and even the buildings shown here can be seen from this point of view.

The educational inclusion policy by FDE, based on the concept of school building as integrated equipment, has enabled the pursuit of a dual objective: on the one hand new schools represent the access opportunity to education for children masses living in extreme poverty, on the other hand, the collective use of some parts of the buildings makes them social polarities in contexts characterized by the absence of basic relational spaces. The places for sport, leisure, representations, computer inclusion4 are conceived as isolable parts from proper learning spaces (classrooms and attached service areas) that can be used by the community independently of the schools opening hours, defining de facto facilities that work 7/7 days.

The issue of multiple and deferred use of the building, but in particular the necessity of using prefabricated constructive elements in order to expedite the realization timing and to reduce costs of a very ambitious school infrastructuring program (in fact 45 new schools were built in Sao Paulo State between 2000 and 2008), stand as the most significant aspects of the experience the paper wants to describe.

We can therefore describe some of these realizations from these two specific points of view. On the one hand there are in fact the arguments about coexistence and interaction of the private parties (exclusive teaching places) of the school with the collective ones (parts usable by the community) and of the school as a whole with the urban context, involving typological reflections. On the other side there is rather the question of the composition by given elements, implicit in prefabrication, as the possibility of defining a recurring architectural character.

From the precise compositional definition of the classroom, to be understood as basic space unit, there are many aggregation systems and composition solutions to hold together didactical parts and parts for public fruition. In particular we can detect two general families of architectural solutions. The first one is related to the possibility of containing in an unitary volume educational spaces and collective ones (Fig.1); while the second one provides for the association of clearly distinguishable volumes (Fig.2).

Both in Jardim Ataliba Lionel school by SPBR firm (Fig.3) than in Campinas school by MMBB firm public spaces are defined as great giant height poly-functional places5 lying at the ground levels, indirectly connected with the city through intermediate outdoor spaces defining squares; while classrooms, for obvious sound insulation and security needs, are located at the highest levels.

In the first building, the presence of a height difference in the longitudinal section, allows to locate the school access at intermediate level while a void in the last deck defines a visual relationship between education space at last floor and common space at ground level. In the central plan building in Campinas instead, the large public multipurpose space defines a polarizing place around which there are special classes at the first floor (on one side of the building) and ordinary classrooms at the second floor (on two sides of the building) served by a ring-like corridor (Fig.4).

The building by UNA Arquitetos in Campinas, provides public spaces both at ground level then at last level. This one is a double height space hosting the gym while the two intermediate levels are dedicated to ordinary didactical activity. A large central corridor allows the access to the classrooms organized in series on both sides. The access to various levels is ensured by two stairs located at the ends of the artefact making the different levels independent(Fig.5).

In buildings by FGMF firm in Varzea Paulista, but especially in schools by Grupo SP in Votorantim and by SIAA in Barrio Feital, the paratactic composition allows the clear identification of parts dedicated to different activities standing as distinct volumes.

In the first building, the three levels volume containing ordinary and special classrooms and didactic services is juxtaposed and misaligned to the gym mute volume (collective use). The didactic volume has a large semi-open double-height atrium occupying the entire available length that looks on an outdoor area. At ordinary classrooms level we can find once again the distribution solution of the large central corridor with classrooms on both sides (Fig.6).

In the school by Grupo Sp, the separation between the suspended classrooms volume, characterized by a wide corridor serving ordinary classrooms and special ones, and the semi-open gym volume allows the inclusion of a large open-air ramp acting as a hinge between the two volumes and clearly defining the main access to the school (Fig. 7).

The orographic and localization conditions of the lot impose the relative rotation between the gym and the classes volume in building by SIAA. The non-orthogonal intersection of two roads determines the classrooms volume rotation, which, because of the proximity of the relief, takes the arrangement of one of them. In the hinge point between didactic volume and the gym there are vertical connection systems standing as autonomous juxtaposed objects that resolve the compositional theme of the non-orthogonal corner (Fig. 8).

Referring to the theme of prefabrication, constructive and composition question at the same time, it is possible to assert that the necessary use of given elements to be composed according to necessities imposed by the program (number of students, number of classrooms, equipped spaces) and by the site (location and orographic conditions) makes the project an eminent collocative operation leading to elementary architectures in which is possible to clearly distinguish the role of each element.

In our case, the architectural results show that the catalogue of predefined elements is not a limitation but it allows the achievement of a common architectural character based on the recurrence not only of the constituent elements but also of the constructive-compositional modalities. It does not result in a linguistic homologation and it seems able to ensure the recognisability of various artefacts as parts of an unitary program, constituting the well-ordered expressive cypher of a public facilities system that wants to improve not only the life of inhabitants but also the urban quality of poor areas, characterized by weak urban structures and poor quality artefacts.

Certainly, the impossibility to invest on the expressive and figurative value of the structural element itself through manipulation morphological, defines a difference between FDE experiences and modern Brazilian architecture tradition. It, oscillating between a strong aptitude for reduction and the search for its own national stylistic individuality used to assign to structural morphology a key role in defining the architectural character. The reference is to modern Brazilian authors’ works in which the structure assumes an expressive role. Among these, to remain within the perimeter of education architectures, we can cite the following references: the Milton Campos secondary school by Oscar Niemeyer in Belo Horizonte realized in 1954 in which there are structural concrete trestles assuming a characteristic rounded profile with downwards tapering; the Escola Secundaria in Guarhulos by Joao Bautista Vilanova Artigas in which the structure is represented by an iteration of concrete partitions modelled in accordance with structural stresses; children school in Sao Bernardo do Campo by Paulo Mendes da Rocha, in which the variable section pillars (consisting of a truncated pyramid on which is placed an element tapered towards the bottom) support a system of very dense thin intradox beams defining the homogeneous condition of the large roof.

Assuming the use of prefabrication, to FDE designers is still afforded the opportunity to reason not only on shapes and sizes, but especially on consistencies of vertical internal partitions and external vertical closings, that, far from being simple walls, stand as light control systems, a great importance issue in a tropical climate, and can be configured as jealousy or even as double facades. This solution is declined in described projects as separation between classrooms volume and the outer building edge which is marked by the presence of structural system and solar screens. The misalignment between the structural system and the architectural one (classrooms) determines the formation of an intermediate layer that, operating a climatic control6, allows to compose facades through the superimposition of a double register. There is in fact an internal level, basically highly transparent (sometimes a continuous glazing), whose configuration is established by uses of behind spaces, and an outer plane in which the structural order interacts with technological register of solar screening which may eventually determine, through a further misalignment, the formation of a third layer (Fig.9, Fig.10).

In building by FGMF, the two sides are characterized by different textures depending on the behind spaces and solar orientation: the classrooms side has a jealousy system composed by concrete modular prefabricated elements on which border beams emerge as mouldings, while the atrium side has a glass sunscreen.

In the building by Grupo SP different façade textures are resolved in a vertical wooden slats system and in a horizontal jutting shading.

The building by UNA Arquitetos uses instead a modular shielding, which, through horizontal windows recalls the vertical overlapping of different uses, while the building by MMBB renounces sunscreening giving the light control to a strong jutting roof on one side and to a suspended vertical panel on the other.

The building by SPBR has instead horizontal wooden sunscreens in correspondence to the large multi-purpose space, while, at the top level on the classrooms side, the corridors interposition between the building edge and the classrooms themselves, determines a shaded space making useless, in technological terms, the sunscreens (Fig.11).

The described experiences seem to stand as a recent moment of a wider process started with the innovative instances by Escola Nova.

This process could be defined as a contextualization process of school building. A process of opening and definition of relationships between the educational institution and the community, resulting, from the point of view of architecture as previously stated, in making explicit the dialectic school-city based on mutual interchange.

The possibility of combining the most innovative pedagogical theories and techniques with the recognition of a urban role for school architecture seems therefore to represent the most interesting aspect of the story.

But in addition to the description of significant experiences, the paper wants to outline a vision on further development of the education building concept in the direction of the process we referred. We could state that the possibility of school’s collective fruition, as well as giving to the institution a central role in everyday life of inhabitants, might imply, biunivocally, the recognition, by the educational institution itself, of a role for the community in youth formation. This achievement could define an advance towards an idea of participatory education that, overcoming current teaching theories and techniques, could start new educational programs and therefore new possibilities for architecture of education buildings, especially in terms of typological experimentation.

Gaspare Oliva is attending a multidisciplinary PhD (career in Architecture and Urban Design) at the Second University of Naples. He collaborates in Architectural Composi-tion Courses of Prof. F. Costanzo since 2009. He graduated with an Architectural and Urban Design thesis with the title: “THE ARCHITECTURE OF LABOUR – Hypothesis for a tertiary field of Third Millennium” (Tutor: Prof. F. Costanzo, Prof. M. Rendina) with honour and publication dignity. He worked as architect in Italy and Ireland at O’Mahony Pike Architects (Dublin). He participated in various international study Conferences. Among them we can mention the Forum ProArch 2013 (Torino) and 2014 (Rome) and EURAU 2014 (Istanbul).

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