Architecture for children requires particular attention to scale, perception and the ability of space to shape behaviours and relationships. In Longare, in the province of Vicenza, MD41 addresses these themes with the new “Luisa Basso” Early Childhood Centre, a building that brings together a nursery and kindergarten within a unified system structured around natural light, continuity with outdoor spaces and the recognisability of individual environments.
The complex is organised beneath a single large pitched roof, an element that brings together the different functions and defines the building’s overall identity. Rather than serving merely as a technical solution, the roof is used as a spatial device capable of creating protection, depth and continuity between inside and outside.
The roof extends beyond the perimeter of the building, generating generous transitional spaces. On the eastern façade, the overhang protects the entrance portico and creates a threshold designed for waiting and gathering. On the western side, the same principle extends towards the garden, defining a covered area for play and outdoor activities. The edge of the building therefore does not coincide with a clear-cut boundary, but becomes an inhabitable space that continuously mediates between the interiors and the surrounding landscape.
This continuity also plays a central role from a pedagogical perspective. The outdoor space is not considered simply as an ancillary area of the school building, but as an integral part of the everyday educational experience. The possibility of using outdoor environments throughout different seasons broadens the range of activities and establishes a more direct relationship with light, climate and nature.
Inside, the organisation of spaces responds to the need to create recognisable and autonomous environments while maintaining a clear relationship with the overall system. Each classroom is conceived as a small unit equipped with its own facilities and flexible spaces, with a configuration that facilitates visual supervision by educators without compromising the children’s autonomy.
The playful dimension of the project also emerges in the design of the openings. The circular windows punctuating the façades introduce a variation to the more rigorous geometry of the envelope and establish a different visual relationship with the outdoors. Their height and shape directly respond to the scale of children, transforming the view outside into a device for observation and curiosity. Colour is not used as an autonomous decorative element, but contributes to the construction of the atmosphere together with the proportions of the spaces, natural light and the presence of the openings.
The building covers approximately 1,030 square metres within a 5,800-square-metre site and forms part of a project funded through Italy’s National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR). Its compact configuration and organisation beneath a single roof allow different requirements to be brought together within a coherent architectural language, avoiding fragmentation into separate pavilions.
In MD41’s project, the quality of the school building therefore derives from its ability to establish relationships between structure, perception and use. The large roof unifies the programme, the transitional spaces extend activities towards the garden, and the interiors are designed around the scale of their users, transforming the school from a merely functional container into an environment capable of accompanying children through their everyday experiences of space.
CREDITS
Project: “Luisa Basso” Early Childhood Centre
Architects: MD41
Location: Longare (VI), Italy
Photography: Alberto Sinigaglia
