Punto Luce: A Place for Education and Sharing

Operated by international charity Save the Children, Punto Luce is a new socio‑educational center in Milan for children aged 6 to 17. The first building constructed from scratch by Save the Children, the center was designed by Milan architects AOUMM as a hub of creativity and inclusion.

Through a range of educational and workshop activities, the facility aims to stimulate both learning and a sense of belonging to the Gallaratese neighborhood, putting into concrete form the concept of the environment as the third teacher, developed by educational psychologist Loris Malaguzzi.

Punto Luce: Sharing and Co-design

Punto Luce occupies a plot where a prefabricated building had stood abandoned since 2008. AOUMM’s project has transformed the site into a place of sharing and functionality. Distinguished by its organic, geometrically complex form, the new building includes spaces for educational workshops, music and digital activities, a teaching kitchen, gardens, outdoor play areas, and a separate 70 m² room available to local associations.

Following the co‑design model that Save the Children has applied to its centers across Italy, the design process featured ongoing consultation with the local community, including schools, families, teenagers, and local organizations.

This participatory approach is evident in the building’s circular plan – a fluid space without rigid hierarchies where different activities can coexist to encourage interdisciplinary learning and mutual enrichment.

The building is set in a large treed garden with paths and open areas with permeable paving, and a more private, covered internal courtyard for children. Design features such as a green roof, a prefabricated timber structure, and the reuse of the existing basement and foundations minimize the project’s environmental impact.

The open-plan layout, achieved by arranging glulam portal frames radially and enclosing the structure with prefabricated sandwich‑panel walls, contributes to the perception of the building as a public, open space for the neighborhood’s youth community. The structure’s visual and physical permeability, provided by large glazed areas, creates a marked continuity between interior and exterior spaces and a dialogue with the urban context.

Design Strategies for Sustainability

The design team’s focus on sustainability is reflected in the different varieties of untreated wood used in the building, such as fir for the columns and primary structure, and okumè and larch for the cladding, which will gradually change in color and appearance, suggesting the idea of architecture that tells the story of passing time.

"We wanted the building to be a living, changing organism,” says Luca Astorri, AOUMM cofounder. “In 15 or 20 years, we might even overhaul the façade simply by flipping the cladding. This is an approach that’s simultaneously circular, conscious, and poetic".

The planned orientation of the architectural volume, skylights, and the geometry of the roof – which shades the southern façade during summer – all contribute to the building’s energy efficiency while also improving occupant comfort and health.

Complementing these passive strategies are a photovoltaic system, a rainwater harvesting system for irrigation, high‑efficiency HVAC systems, an air‑quality monitoring system linked to the roof windows, and a smart lighting system.

The landscape design was conceived as a sequence of thresholds that define the various outdoor spaces: the central courtyard, peripheral play areas, the educational garden, and perimeter tree planting. The system of paths leads visitors from the entrance to these different areas. Planting choices focused on low‑maintenance native species that can also be cared for as a group activity by the children themselves.

The design has delivered an accessible, inclusive space able to stimulate curiosity and socialization by integrating architecture and landscape in the service of education.