Fuori classe - ep.1

Fuori Classe is a creative participatory architecture workshop that came to life at the Carducci-Volta-Pacinotti Institute in Piombino, involving 44 students, teachers, and architects in an intense, concrete, and deeply educational experience. The workshop was designed to imagine and plan the transformation of the school's outdoor spaces, but also to learn to look at one's everyday surroundings with new eyes: as architects, as creative individuals, as citizens.

Because the school is, first and foremost, a community asset.

The approach is one of “learning by doing”: a practical workshop in which ideas take shape through sketches, models, intense discussions, and moments of direct observation of the spaces.

The keyword is collaboration: mixed groups, led by teachers and designers, worked tirelessly, pooling their skills, insights, and sensibilities. The result was surprising creativity, capable of proposing personal visions but also mature solutions, attentive to the real needs of those who experience school every day.

The architecture explored in this workshop is active: from thought to design, from desire to concrete possibility.

The results were extraordinary. The students showed total commitment, rare concentration, and sincere participation. They expressed bold ideas, but also “bitter” truths: the fear of not being heard, the fear that everything will remain as it is, that the enthusiasm of these days will not be followed up. It is a strong feeling that we cannot ignore.

The challenge now is not to betray these hopes, because they represent an important part of the future.

The workshop revealed clear signals:

– a great need for listening and recognition;

– untapped potential waiting for real opportunities to emerge;

– fear of stagnation, but also a clear desire for participation;

– the demand for more inclusive, welcoming, and accessible spaces;

– the desire to take care of places once they have been transformed.

The proposals concern both the outdoor areas and the overall identity of the school: the redevelopment of the garden, the use of the spaces between the two buildings for recreation and study, the possibility of eating and resting in the green area in front of the entrance, the idea of coloring and characterizing the facades, the need for a single entrance to strengthen the sense of community, two safe exits, and even a simple but valuable water fountain.

Fuori Classe was a start. A key to open doors.

Now it's up to all of us to really open that door. See you in the next episode!