Connecting Heritage with New Ways of Learning
Connecting Heritage with New Ways of Learning
Painted School
Painted School
Status:
International Competition
Year:
2025
Type:
Education · Civic
Size:
1.800 sqm
Client:
Comune di Pordenone
Location:
Pordenone, Italy
Drawing from the Painted City
The new façade draws from Pordenone’s tradition of painted architecture, translating the colours and geometric patterns of the historic city into a contemporary building envelope. A three-dimensional field of overlapping diamond-shaped elements gives the school a distinctive identity, changing in depth, colour and shadow throughout the day.
Rather than reproducing the past, the façade reinterprets a local architectural language to establish a new relationship between the school and the city.
The landscape becomes a place for learning
Learning continues beyond the building into the existing park. An outdoor Agorà, botanical garden, teaching gardens and the Bosco del Movimento create a sequence of environments for experimentation, play, movement and collective activities among the mature trees.
New pedestrian and cycling connections strengthen the relationship between the school, the wider campus and the neighbourhood, while the transformation of Via Maggiore creates a safer and more accessible public edge. Architecture and landscape come together to make the school a new cultural place for Pordenone — designed for students, families and the community
A new identity rooted in the past
The transformation of the Grigoletti Primary School begins with its existing architecture. The protected building is preserved and renewed, while a new volume extends the school to accommodate contemporary learning environments.
Rather than competing with the historic building, the extension establishes a deliberate dialogue between old and new. Different in form and expression yet connected as a single school, the two architectures allow the existing identity to remain legible while opening a new chapter in its life.
Drawing from the Painted City
The new façade draws from Pordenone’s tradition of painted architecture, translating the colours and geometric patterns of the historic city into a contemporary building envelope. A three-dimensional field of overlapping diamond-shaped elements gives the school a distinctive identity, changing in depth, colour and shadow throughout the day.
Rather than reproducing the past, the façade reinterprets a local architectural language to establish a new relationship between the school and the city.
The landscape becomes a place for learning
Learning continues beyond the building into the existing park. An outdoor Agorà, botanical garden, teaching gardens and the Bosco del Movimento create a sequence of environments for experimentation, play, movement and collective activities among the mature trees.
New pedestrian and cycling connections strengthen the relationship between the school, the wider campus and the neighbourhood, while the transformation of Via Maggiore creates a safer and more accessible public edge. Architecture and landscape come together to make the school a new cultural place for Pordenone — designed for students, families and the community
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