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The Gonzaga Institute, one of the oldest private schools in Milan (est. 1906) has always considered the needs of the students and times. The school structure has evolved over the years, acquiring new spaces for additional learning activities and sports, and to support this growth an award-winning wing was designed and introduced.
Completed several years ago, this project now offers facilities that are open to students and the local community including large outdoor spaces, a sports center, conference hall and a much needed multi-story car park, despite the challenging urban context.
The courtyard is the heart of the school, both physically and functionally, around which revolves the scholastic organism with three new volumes overlooking the courtyard space.
The translucent volume contains sports facilities, swimming pool and a sizeable gym, which hosts official basketball and volleyball games. One singular element, the independent entrance to the sports complex that opens onto Via Settembrini for the public, formally externalises the radical transformation.
A low-rise structure conceals the car park access ramp, while a long, narrow glass building accommodates the distribution system, thereby resolving the complex connections between the various functions.
The partial transformation of a low volume located along one edge of the site led to the creation of the school’s assembly hall, which replaced the former school gymnasium. The entrance on Via Settembrini also serves this function.
Beneath the courtyard, a four-storey underground car park, accessed from Via Settembrini and operating independently from school activities, serves the school in part but primarily benefits the surrounding neighbourhood.
The two elements, car park and sports complex, are structurally independent for security purposes; the reduced availability of space and compliance with the neighbouring lots were the reasons behind this choice. The glass façade is structural; the thick vertical partition is, in fact, a supporting system for the distribution volume floor slabs. The Vierendel beams host locker rooms below and the metal structure covering the car park ramp is self-supporting.
