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Fare Scuola, innovative spaces and ideas for growth
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The “Fare Scuola” project, which grew out of the educational experience of the Fondazione Reggio Children - Centro Loris Malaguzzi and Enel Cuore’s expertise concerning social environments, did not falter when faced with the pandemic emergency. In 2020 ten initiatives were completed in as many Italian schools, further boosting a project launched in 2015 to rethink the spaces at infant and primary schools all over the country. So far the project has achieved notable success. Indeed, 76 educational and architectural initiatives have been carried out, benefiting more than 10 thousand children, involving more than 300 teachers and 40 designers from various architecture firms. The project also contributes to promoting inclusive and equitable quality education, in line with SDG4 (“Quality Education”), the fourth of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals outlined in the UN’s 2030 Agenda.
“We are proud to have contributed, together with Fondazione Reggio Children, to creating a reference model for the education of future generations. The pandemic has highlighted even more than before the need for projects like Fare Scuola, which considers the school environment not only as a place for children’s educational development, but also as a space in which to create inclusive relationships, by taking increasing advantage of digital tools.”
Michele Crisostomo, Chairman of Enel Cuore
The project contributed to improving school activities prior to the pandemic, and helped schools to respond to the emergency, particularly in the case of remote schooling. As Carla Rinaldi, President of Fondazione Reggio Children, emphasized, “the idea of school as a great laboratory has been shown to be very precious, both for those who were able to continue in-person schooling, in these flexible, highly equipped spaces, and for remote learning.”
In all of the schools the work was intended to help foster relationships, sharing and creativity in all of its forms, creating tactile, digital, musical and theatrical workshops and designing indoor and outdoor recreation spaces rich in greenery.
New and renovated spaces are used to promote an innovative idea of school because the vision at the heart of “Fare Scuola” is not limited to transforming classrooms and educational spaces and redesigning gardens, courtyards and entrances: it all forms part of an engaging pathway that involves teachers, families and educational experts so that they can respond to the real educational needs of children and turn schools into ever stronger socio-cultural bastions of their communities.
“Together with schools, communities and architects, we have come up with ideas that can help schools reach higher and further, expressing something new and different.”
Carla Rinaldi, President of Fondazione Reggio Children
“Fare Scuola” has led to the creation of a network of schools that are committed to promoting and educating people about change but, by definition, it is a project that is in constant evolution, based on the experience gained since its inception. In February a digital platform was launched for teachers at all schools involved in the project: a virtual space where they could share experiences, study and discuss various issues, from learning spaces to outdoor education, from the use of materials to the digital culture. Fare Scuola teaches everyone that learning must never stop.
The ten projects across Italy
Belluno, Musical workshop and Library Space
A theatre space and a library have been created at the Luigi Dal Pont primary school, while the entrance hall has been reorganized and there is now a musical workshop equipped with technology for recording, modifying and visualizing sounds and for creating different music and sounds.
The project was created by the Studio Antimeridian Design Consultancy
Genoa, Tactile Digital Workshop
The initiative at the Cantore school was centered on themes of light and optics: a camera obscura was created as well as semi-transparent and reflective structures that, when moved and repositioned, enable the exploration and study of the effects of reflection.
The project was designed and created by Neo Studio
Palermo, Food lab
A Food Lab was created at the Scipione di Castro primary school. This is a new refectory for pupils’ lunchtimes, including spaces for dialogue or reading and a kitchen specifically developed for workshops and observing food, activities supported by the new vegetable patch positioned just outside.
The project was designed by the architect Riccardo Zuliani
Naples, Tactile Digital Workshop and Reading and Theatre Space
Great importance is assigned to literature and theatre at the Puglisi primary school in the Scampia neighborhood. This is through the creation of an extensive space with step seating to welcome children to a tactile digital workshop equipped with tools for research, such as digital microscopes, webcams, microphones and projectors.
The project was created by the TASCA studio
La Spezia, Welcoming workshop
Intimate and welcoming spaces characterize the project at the Don Milani infant school: bookshelves, a projectable whiteboard, spaces equipped with lights and mirrors are closed off with curtains to provide a protected and cozy environment for the children and a small theatre space have changed the face of the school.
The project was created by BdA, Bottega di Architettura
Valle Castellana (TE), Coloured Hall and Tactile Digital Workshop
At the Rita Levi Montalcini infant and primary school the accent was on welcoming people into the entrance hall. This has been done through a reconfiguration of the spaces, combined with the positioning of colored film on the large windows on the ceiling. This produces interplays of light that change according to the time of day, thereby creating a pleasant and comfortable environment for children, parents and teachers. Completing everything is a tactile digital workshop centered on lighting.
The project was created by Lo Studio
Cittareale (RI), Multi-functional Classroom and Outdoor Courtyard
The infant school, which was built in the wake of the 2016 earthquake, has been enhanced with a multi-functional area with distorting mirrors, easels for painting, cushions for relaxing and playing, and some outdoor courtyards with chairs and tubs for growing plants and flowers, to foster social interaction and exploration.
The project was designed by studio Archisbang
Pinerolo (TO), Fitted Indoor “Piazzas”
“Piazzas” at the center of the Nino Costa primary school: micro-spaces with soft seating, counters to work on, small shelves for storing materials and books, special lighting, light effects and electricity sockets to power electronic devices. There are large areas on the wall for documenting activities and exchanging messages, drawings and notes, in addition to a digital monitor for institutional communication.
The project was created by Neo Studio
Sesto San Giovanni (MI), Digital Musical Workshop Digitale Musicale
At the Luini primary school everything revolves around music, thanks to specially developed digital software and a hexagonal digital-musical workshop where all of the surfaces can be utilized for projections and the textures of musical trolleys [1] enable children to discover new sounds.
The project was created by Studio Azzurro
Taranto, Tactile Workshop
Everything is connected with the outside at the Morvillo infant school, where a tactile workshop enables children to explore numerous expressive styles and where, via a large walkway/shelving unit, there is direct access to an open, circular, wooden classroom with a vast surface with shock-absorbing flooring and some tubs for housing natural materials and for growing plants.
The project was created by studio Archisbang