School, Tirana

The Rainbow is My Favourite Colour is the title of an Italian book dedicated to Dutch architect Aldo Van Eyck, whom I remember especially for his Hubertus House in Amsterdam. The building is decorated in the bright colours of the rainbow, each colour marking the linear geometry of its design. This school complex in Tirana can be compared to the Hubertus House in terms of its function and also on account of the similar colourful tone that livens up the grey dullness of the surrounding area.

The Company of Mary, a religious order based in Tirana that has been working in Albania for many years, wanted to realize a project that would epitomize its young users as well as appealing to all the citizens of Tirana. The new school complex, which houses a primary school and a junior secondary school, stands on the outskirts of the city centre. It is bounded on the north side by the Tirana–Durazzo motorway, on the south by a small river, and on the east and west sides by as yet undeveloped land.

The school is built on a north-south axis and extends over three levels, one of which is below ground level. The classrooms on the ground floor, which will host the primary school, open onto the green areas for outdoor activities. There, children at play will enliven the school’s grounds as well as the unbuilt area around it.

A balcony on the second floor leads to the junior secondary school, ending on the north side in a small patio created by a slight projection of the front of the complex above the primary school classrooms. On the south side, the balcony overlooks the entrance hall, a double height volume which brings together vertical and horizontal spaces through the use of a skylight and ample windows running the entire height of the building and allowing light to enter it from the sides. The project combines geometrical simplicity with a variety of colours and materials. Volumes and surfaces are intertwined, providing visitors with dynamic perspectives of the different colourful areas within the building.

The main entrance interrupts the horizontal axis of the building while the chimney, a sort of small totem pole, becomes a landmark that can be seen from afar. The front is rhythmically divided by the tall, narrow windows and a row of thin columns that pierce the porch roof at random angles, like trees inviting the youngsters to play around them.

Different materials were used for different parts of the project. The frame of the building is made of reinforced concrete, clad with layers of bricks, plasterboard, mineral wool, stone and plaster. All the circulation areas, including the two staircases, are faced with a local stone called 'janina', which is very similar to the Italian travertine used for the ground floor corridor.

For the benefit of the future users, the rubber used for the internal walls is antistatic and sound absorbent, as well as environmentally friendly, as is the paint used for the plastered walls. The architect also paid a lot of attention to the lighting of each space. This started with finding the best orientation for the building so that there is plenty of sunlight in the classrooms and no artificial light is needed. Moreover, thanks to this particular orientation, the light is never direct or too strong.

In this building Francesco Scardaccione has succeeded in integrating diverse materials and colours without becoming too kitsch. In its elementary simplicity such a joyful construction could even be thought of as a 'toy' for children to play with.