The new kindergarten in the Giardino Pozzati, Bologna, is the concrete response to a shared vision: that of a school architecture capable of becoming public space, educational environment, and a living organism within the urban landscape. Not just a functional building, but a relational infrastructure for the community. The project originated from a long participatory process with citizens and local authorities, integrating the needs of the context as a foundational part of the design concept.
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Set within a green area already recognized by the neighborhood as a resource, the new school functions as an urban device that regenerates and enhances the existing context. It harmoniously fits into the local school network, establishing a functional and visual dialogue with the nearby Futura school and the adjacent park. The building does not act as a barrier but promotes continuity with the landscape, integrating pedestrian pathways, green screens, and framed views that create physical and perceptual connections with the urban surroundings, strengthening the sense of community and belonging.
The spatial quality is supported by a technical approach focused on sustainability and energy efficiency. The project features a high-performance timber envelope with minimal transmission heat loss, high-efficiency thermal systems, and a high percentage of energy from renewable sources. Comfort is ensured by building automation systems and mechanical ventilation with heat recovery. The building is certified in energy class A4, the highest level. All envelope components contain a high percentage of recycled materials, and eco-compatibility is further ensured by a rainwater collection and reuse system, with a detention basin for sustainable water management. The building is equipped with many photovoltaic panels, on the roof and on the external canopies. The contribution of renewable energy is such as to bring the building into class NZeb.
The architectural design is shaped around the child: a single-story building composed of recognizable microcosms, arranged and interwoven around a central relational space. Each classroom opens outward with large openings, porticoes, and gardens, dissolving boundaries between indoors and nature. The built space is never closed in on itself, but porous, permeable, and inclusive. It is an architecture that accompanies pupils in the discovery of self and others, of inside and outside, of the small and the vast. Special attention was given to four thematic ateliers—for music, drawing, manual activities, and the body—placed in continuity with the classrooms and the central piazza, and conceived as spaces of experimentation and expression. These are complemented by a dedicated reading area for individual or small group activities, featuring a small library also accessible to families. The project operates on two scales: the urban one, made of proximity services and connections, and the perceptual, everyday scale of the child. These two dimensions integrate to create a school environment that fosters relationships, embraces change, and meets real needs with simple, measurable, and durable tools. The intense colours and simple geometries of the building immediately identify the main areas of the sections, the dormitory and the services, allowing the child to identify the elementary spaces that make up the nursery school.
"It is a highly energy-efficient structure that took into account the educational needs of this age group during the design process." - Matteo Lepore, Mayor of Bologna
TECO+partners is an architectural firm based in Bologna, founded by six partners and supported by a multidisciplinary team of 30 collaborators, including architects, engineers, and designers.
Environmental quality lies at the heart of their design philosophy, supported by extensive research and hands-on experience with renewable energy systems, bio-architectural techniques, biocompatible materials, and passive climate control strategies.
The firm operates in Italy and internationally, designing educational and sports facilities, residential complexes, office buildings, and industrial structures.
TECO+partners has designed 47 schools, each tailored to diverse educational needs. Their portfolio includes kindergartens, primary and secondary schools, vocational institutes, and university campuses, architectures as a companion in the growth of children—guiding them through the discovery of self and others, of inside and outside, of the intimate and the vast.