In the suburbs of Milan, in Via Pianell, a school lost its function after decades of disuse, and stands there hidden from view, as covered by a veil of shadow.
In the project, shadow comes into play not as something that covers and hides, but as something that needs light to be cast. The lights are back on the school, so mind the shadow.
New spaces for the city and the citizens are born in the spaces of the former classrooms, for both private and public needs of the city. The more private part is composed of two small living units, to welcome and host citizens in need, while the public part is made up of workshops and areas for social events.
The concept of shadow is declined in a different way in each of the spaces: in the workshops it is mysterious, hiding between backlit furnishing elements, in the street food space it becomes a decoration, and on the rooftop terrace it finally turns into a living matter, with people casting their shadow on the walls of the fabric tunnels.
Shadow is the leftover of light, and it acts as the protagonist of the new-old spaces and of the actions that came back to animate them.
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