In Marcon, near Venice, an intervention of northern European inspiration
A contemporary and functional school complex, with zintek® zinc-titanium cladding from the «The Color Line» series
The new primary school in Marcon, north of Venice, inaugurated last January, pays tribute to Tina Anselmi – teacher, partisan, and first woman to hold the office of minister in Italy.
The intervention is part of the school building renovation process financed by the Ministry of Education to provide the Country with open, sustainable, well-equipped, community-connected schools, as indicated by the guidelines identified by the group of architecture professionals appointed in January 2022 by the then Italian education minister Patrizio Bianchi.
The proposal of studio AI Progetti in Mestre was born from these suggestions. It features two adjacent buildings, surrounded by large green areas for sporting activities; inside, there are classrooms for 660 students, a canteen, common areas, and a gym, B2-level certified by the Italian National Olympic Committee. The school has also obtained the categorization of use class IV as a strategic building to be used in the event of a disaster. Particular attention was also paid to the design of accesses and parking lots.
The layout of the rooms follows a logic of Northern European inspiration, which prefers flexible spaces that can be reconfigured according to needs rather than the traditional classroom-corridor scheme. The entrance hall, for example, can easily be transformed into an arena for shows and performances.
The project establishes a new relationship between the building, the community, and its territory. Traditional elements such as the structure of the traditional rural houses – rectangular buildings with sloping, thatched roofs which were once widespread across the Veneto region as homes or places to store farm equipment – are reinterpreted in an ultra-contemporary key thanks to the choice of coloured zintek® zinc-titanium cladding for all the facades.
The involvement of Zintek of Venice Porto Marghera, producer of zintek®, was decisive for the success of the work. The company boasts a solid experience in the field of school construction: among its main works, the Novalis Steiner school of San Vendemiano, in the province of Treviso; the Rita Levi Montalcini Primary School of Porto Potenza Picena, in the province of Macerata, and that of Borgosatollo, near Brescia, currently under construction.
The economic and practical need to minimize conservation interventions in a public building has found the ideal solution in zinc-titanium: a resistant and highly durable material, ecological, recyclable, and maintenance-free, which has made it possible to combine functionality, safety, and aesthetic value.
Mixing three different shades of zintek® from the «The Color Line» series – Rock Gray alternating with Lagoon Green for the classroom complex and Mediterranean Blue for the gym – gave rise to a playful dynamism appearance, amplified by the profiles marked by the angular seams and by the choice of laying slabs with staggered joints of variable length and pitch (480 mm, 300 mm and 200 mm).
Rock Gray zintek® was also used for the roofing connection sheet metalwork and in the door and window jambs, while the roofing is made of natural zintek®, laid with double seaming on grooved wooden planks.
For all the details on the school project, browse the photographic monograph. For a focus on the zintek® solutions, discover the technical dossier.
STUDIO DI FATTIBILITÀ E PROGETTO DEFINITIVO
Client / Comune di Marcon (VE)
Architectural project / arch. Andrea Borin – arch. Massimo Furlan (AI Progetti S.r.l.)
Structural design / eng. Valentina Corras (AI Progetti S.r.l.)
Plant design / eng. Antonio Alessandri (AI Progetti S.r.l.)
Fire project / eng. Antonio Alessandri (AI Progetti S.r.l.)
PROGETTO ESECUTIVO
Client / Comune di Marcon (VE)
Architectural project / arch. Alessandro Pamio
Structural design / eng. Valentina Corras (AI Progetti S.r.l.)
Mechanical systems design / eng. Massimiliano Mattiazzo
Plant design / eng. Zefferino Tommasin (TFE ingegneria S.r.l.)
Fire project / eng. Zefferino Tommasin (TFE ingegneria S.r.l.)
Hydraulic compatibility project / eng. Giuseppe Baldo (AEQUA ENGINEERING S.r.l.)
Acoustic project / eng. Massimo Rovere
Safety coordination during the design phase / eng. Emmanuele Martini (SAICO ingegneria S.r.l.)
CANTIERIZZAZIONE
Client / Comune di Marcon (VE)
General construction company / Setten Genesio S.p.A.
Construction supervision / arch. Emanuela Barro (MATE Engineering)
Safety coordination during execution / eng. Alessandro Sanna (MATE Engineering)
CREDITS
Photographic references / © alessandra chemollo
Sketches, drawings and renderings / AI Progetti S.r.l.
Construction and technical drawings / Zintek S.r.l.
