Kindergarten / Tesimo

The feature that immediately catches the eyes about the Tesimo region is the happy symbiosis between human activities and nature. The special climatic conditions have favoured a flourishing agricultural activity that has discreetly shaped the landscape over the centuries.
The settlements consist mainly of dwellings and buildings for agricultural use; castles, manor houses and noble residences dot the area and constitute its landmarks.
It is in this delicate context that the project for the new municipal kindergarten, nursery and school canteen fits.
The intervention is an extension of the existing primary school, thus constituting a new pole for the community, in which children from three months to eleven years of age will be accompanied in their growth.

The open space, the void, is the element of connection and relationship with the existing building
A chain of open spaces arranged in sequence is thus imagined: the primary school garden, the playground, the nursery garden and finally the kindergarten garden.
The various play areas are connected by a visual axis that allows children of different ages to see each other, thus making them fully aware that they belong to a single school community.

The choices regarding open spaces lead to concentrate the construction along the edge of the area. Starting from this premise, the idea of the building takes shape: a construction with an elongated shape that flanks the plot to the east.
The typology adopted is that of many shelters for agricultural use in the area: buildings with a rectangular plan, developed in length and covered by a gabled roof.
They represent nothing more than the repetition of the hut archetype, the re-proposition of a simple and universal architecture.
The intention is therefore to propose an architecture with an immediate and recognisable form, a large collective house where the children of the Kita and kindergarten are gathered under one large roof.
The roof thus becomes the structuring theme of the building and constitutes its architectural expression. The large perimeter overhangs of the roof embody the idea of protection in both a symbolic and material sense. They provide effective sun protection for the school’s large windows, protect the outer walls from water, and offer shelter at the entrance.