The elementary school and nursery school donated by the FIAT Group is part of the C.A.S.E. project in Bazzano, near L’Aquila. Inaugurated in the 2011-2012 school year, the building was constructed on the basis of a concept developed by Fiat Partecipazioni S.p.A and designed by A.S. Architetti Associati, an architectural practice in Turin founded by architects Edoardo Astegiano, Renzo Conti and Federico Morgando.



Standing on a 4500 square metre lot with a large playground and open-air classroom, the "caterpillar", as the school has been nicknamed, consists of 5 pavilions of different sizes using design solutions incorporating a number of references to the automotive industry.

The pavilions are regular parallelepipeds connected by a glulam walkway, nicknamed the caterpillar, which winds 55 metres along between the pavilions, incorporating plenty of glass just like the pavilions to offer views of the valley with a ventilated double skin.



The earthquake-proof grid forming the structure of the buildings consists of metal frames covered with sandwich panels of insulated sheet metal. The buildings’ external cladding, including the roofing, is made with porcelain stoneware tiles from GranitiFiandre’s Wave Extreme collection: big tiles measuring 150x75 cm and 10 mm thick.

The project makes use of exclusive application of the Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic method to the Wave Extreme collection and a special anchorage system custom designed by Graniti Fiandre’s Engineering division.



The Active Clean Air & Antibacterial Ceramic production method, as demonstrated by the results recently published by the Department of Chemistry, Physics and Electro-Chemistry of the University of Milan, makes an active contribution to reduction of atmospheric pollutants and of the principal strains of bacteria thanks to the action of titanium dioxide in the form of tiny particles anchored to the surfaces of the tiles at high temperatures. The purifying procedure involves no risks for human health or the environment and is naturally triggered in the presence of light (either sunlight or artificial light) and the moisture in the air.



Design: (concept) Fiat Partecipazioni S.p.A., studio A.S. Architetti Associati (Edoardo Astegiano, Renzo Conti, Federico Morgando) - Torino
Location: L'Aquila, Italy

www.studioas.it
www.active-ceramic.com
www.granitifiandre.com