If you have learned to learn then you are made to learn” (Maria Montessori 1870 -1952). Learning to learn in order to then be consciously capable of doing it; so claimed Maria Montessori (1870 -1952), one of the greatest Italian educators.
Enterprise, today, not at all easy to achieve for various reasons: too numerous classes, absent student-teacher ratio, insufficient equipment, limited economic resources, etc. In light of the above, having the opportunity to improve the students’ teaching activity, contributing in a concrete way to their education, was the main reason that prompted NOS Design to “embark” on the project of the scientific section of the British International School of Rome. The school building, located on the outskirts of the city, dedicates an entire floor of its building to the scientific section: physics and chemistry laboratories, compound preparation rooms, classrooms that are simple connection spaces and services, these are the environments that make up the section. Specifically, NOS Design intervened in the laboratories, preparation rooms, connection spaces and services, entirely redefining their functional layout. Objective: to create spaces that could adapt in a diversified way to the needs and number of students, as well as offer a high technological standard in terms of teaching equipment. To achieve this, it was decided to organize the space of the laboratories with a few precise technological elements, leaving the rest of the surface free and adaptable for the positioning of the benches. In fact, each of these was equipped with 5 or 6 multifunctional pods: turrets fixed to the floor slab, with integrated system connections (gas system, water system, electrical system, drainage system) used by the students for the various types of experiments.Always following this logic, the storage units, selected on the basis of a greater capacity than the previous ones, were placed, occupying only two walls of each classroom, also inserting specific equipment for the exclusive use of the teachers (hoods for the preparation of the experiments) always on the same walls. A multicolored checkerboard pattern, specially designed for each laboratory, defines the position of the pods: the motif also re-proposes itself in the connection space with the aim of visually and perceptually unifying the entire surface. A simple connection has been transformed from a place of passage to a place of staying and interacting: the pattern above has in fact been prepared to evoke the famous game of “Campana”, a fun pastime to practice during breaks from educational activity that promotes socialization among students. The choice of colors for the floors and walls was dictated by the need to create a bright and welcoming environment: the dominant tone is gray, used mainly for the floors and walls, with a distinctive note of blue (homage to the school that has this color present on its coat of arms), and red, yellow and green spots, always in the floor. Blue is then declined in its various shades: light blue for the stools, electric blue for the exposed metal beams of the laboratories and some inserts on the floor, dark blue for the window frames in the corridor and access doors, light blue for the storage units. The overall perception of the entire floor is completely modified and while in the previous configuration the space was interpreted in pieces, with these interventions it is unified.
IT