ALL-AGES SCHOOLS ENGAGE COMMUNITY
22 Mar 2018
Stefano Boeri Architetti has been chosen to construct a new education initiative in Tirana. Dedicated to pre-university education, the three new buildings will contain five schools that will be open 24/7 all-year-round for students of any age.
The buildings form part of a larger masterplan in the north-west quarter of the Albanian capital. “The school must be open to a new rhythm of life,” explained Stefano Boeri. “It must be an active place in all the hours of the day, every day of the year, for everyone, at all ages: grandparents, young people, local associations, creative enterprises, institutions.”
Located in the districts of Don Bosco, Kodër-Kamëz, and Shqiponja Square, the project reflects Stefano Boeri Architetti’s (SBA) particular vision of the education system’s social and cultural function.
“The open school is the heart of our society, that beats together with the life, that flows in and around it,” continued Boeri. “The new school hosts meetings, discussions, dialogs for associations without head offices. It opens the doors to those seeking a space to start a social and cultural venture. It welcomes book clubs and organizes courses to explore the most intriguing, bizarre and extreme depths of knowledge.”
The project extends over a total surface area of 29,609 square metres. It is composed of: the Don Bosco school complex, with nursery, pre-school education, middle school and high school (9812 sqm); the Kodër-Kamëz school complex, with nursery, pre-school education, middle school and high school (11,898 sqm); and the Shqiponja school complex, with nursery, pre-school education and middle school (7898 sqm).
“The three new schools of Tirana will have façades in red brick and white bases in cement (a combination of materials that hearkens back to the tradition of Italian architecture in Tirana) and will function as a local epicentre, as a new reference point of the public life of the area,” explained Francesca Cesa Bianchi, project manager of SBA. “Our schools will be the true urban squares of the neighbourhoods, used by students during school hours, and by the community on weekends and holidays.” The new institutions have been designed to serve the entire community and will be topped with photovoltaic panels to maintain a sustainable footprint.