The Enzo Piccinini Foundation alongside “La Carovana” School also in the expansion project
The bond between “La Carovana” School of Modena and Enzo dates back to the very beginnings of this adventure; it was 1979 when some parents and teachers were encouraged by Enzo himself to form a cooperative to “play” the Christian ideal they had encountered in managing a nursery and primary school. They started in premises made available by a religious order outside Modena, to then move into the city, but always renting. This bond has always remained alive even after Enzo’s death, when the opportunity arose for the Cooperative to build a new building. In fact, the newly born Foundation played a decisive role in that transition, purchasing the land and granting the surface rights to the Cooperative for thirty years. The building, inaugurated in 2005, is located in via Enzo Piccinini.
Over the last twenty years, the school has experienced constant growth, doubling the number of its students. To make room for the continuous enrollment requests, the structure has had to progressively sacrifice common areas, transforming laboratories, offices, and special classrooms into standard classrooms. The Cooperative therefore decides to take another step in its now fifty-year adventure: an expansion intervention is needed, but not to further increase the number of enrolled students nor to create new classes, but rather to «give ourselves more space to broaden our horizons». In an era marked by rapid transformations, social uncertainties, and a widespread sense of educational fragility, deciding to invest in the school is a gesture of profound trust in the future. An important investment to put the pedagogical value of space and relationships back at the center: returning spaces dedicated to laboratories and teachers’ work means creating the ideal conditions so that the educational encounter can express itself in all its richness and innovation.
Also in this new passage of its history, the school finds Enzo by its side: the Foundation decides to support this important investment by extending the surface right until 2053, which would have expired in 2033.
The architectural and functional project
«Schools began with a man under a tree who did not know he was a teacher. And who shared what he had understood with a few others, who did not know they were students. The students reflected on the exchanges of ideas that took place among them and thought it was good to be in the presence of that man. They wished their children would also listen to such a man. Soon, spaces became necessary and the first schools appeared. The establishment of schools was inevitable because they are part of human desires».
his famous reflection by the great architect Louis Kahn perfectly summarizes the nature of the educational event: even before walls and structures, a school is the encounter between teachers and students around a desire for discovery.
The work, designed by the TECO studio in Bologna, fits into this path and stands out for its essentiality and great brightness, grafting directly onto the existing building and articulating itself on two levels:
- Ground Floor: it will host four rooms equipped as classrooms and their related facilities. The architectural layout recalls the structure of a cloister, with a large tree in the center that almost evokes the figure mentioned by Kahn and diffuses natural light into all the spaces below.
- First Floor: it will see the addition of two new rooms and a large usable terrace, ideal for outdoor educational activities and moments of socializing.
In a contemporary society that is often distracted and prone to disengagement, the initiative of “La Carovana” represents a strong sign of hope, as highlighted by the Bishop of Modena, Don Erio Castellucci, during a meeting with the school’s executives and some teachers: “It is a very fascinating project, because it goes against the trend of the prevailing pessimism. So it is truly a beautiful sign of hope in a difficult time. You are courageous!” reaffirming that education is the most precious resource a community can bet on.
Handing over to the new generations wider, brighter spaces designed for relational and intellectual growth is the tangible sign of an adult world that has valid reasons to continue believing in young people and in the future. The same reasons that animated Enzo’s entire life.
Fondazione Enzo Piccinini
Cooperativa Sociale “La Carovana”
