Elementary School

On April 27th 1955, the municipality of Busto Arsizio commissioned the engineer and architect Enrico Castiglioni and the engineer Dante Brigatti to prepare, in collaboration, the design of a primary School building and its furnishing to be built in Sempione district. The original project included 10 classrooms divided into three blocks, to be built in two steps. The construction was never completed and only the two blocks (for 6 classrooms) were built. The building is featured by the original structural design of two “Π-shaped” portals in exposed reinforced concrete and by folded glass walls with iron-windows frames.

Istituto Tecnico Industriale e Istituto Professionale di Stato

Castiglioni repeatedly stressed the impoverished and honest character of the building. The emphasized structure however creates a sculptural appearance which is unusual for a school. Pevsner already called the building Brutalist shortly after its completion. However, the dramatic base level connecting the building to the ground is also reminiscent of the Expressionism found in Mendelsohn’s Einstein Tower. The school complex consists of two symmetrical buildings and an atrium with columns. The two buildings have an original inverted “T shape” section. Lateral wings presented a curved pitched to be jointed with the higher central body, which is "cutted" longitudinally by a slit of light. The exposed reinforced concrete structure (entirely cast in situ) is modular and consists of a combination of frames and thin vaults. The design was influenced by continuous delays in construction: the increasing price of labour led to cut more creative structural solutions, such as the tree-inspired columns of the atrium.

Elementary School

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Istituto Tecnico Industriale e Istituto Professionale di Stato

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