Pencil Box

School building built in 50 days for the earthquake emergency in Emilia Romagna. From its plaza, the building acts a concrete wall that acts as a fence. A strong wall, imposing, rough, that wants to give the idea of strength and protection to parents who bring their children to school. Once inside the fence the building appears to be as a colored “world “. A series of pillars chromatically articulates the main facade. A school is a place for the growth and the education of children. We decided to characterize this space through the use of bright colors. The use of different colors for different age groups in educational spaces has been the subject of numerous studies at the beginning of the last century. The correct application of colors in education environments promotes psychological well-being. The motivations of the users, increases the quality of the environment and promotes the ability to concentrate. An educational environment - such as a school - needs a certain level of comfortable psychological perception that only a space - personalized through the suitable colors - can give. An emotionally and psychologically stimulating environment helps to strengthen the sense of belonging of students towards the school which becomes an important part of their identity and by that reduces the risk of vandalism. A structure designed as “emergency structure” must be rationalized to the maximum in order to optimize costs, its construction, its management and its daily use. The necessities of the cities affected by the earthquake are the base from which all the design ideas have sprung leading to a construction system whose strengths are construction, composition and distribution simplicity. Project in collaboration with Mide Architetti.