Modern Architecture for Contemporary Communities: Learning and Inclusion in the Open Work

According to the definition of ‘Open Work’ it is possible to reinterpret the experiences of Modern Movement in architecture through some eminent experimental model-schools that were able to define spaces for learning as places for communities, at the same time didactic and social ones, starting from the pedagogical methods developed at the beginning of the 20th Century, which have deeply affected the experimental practices linked to the field of design and art. The most relevant case can be considered the Bauhaus school, where new pedagogies expressed the need to re-found the entire society, in order to retrieve the totality and complexity of mankind. Starting from these assumptions, the ongoing research1 investigates the most significant design experiences carried out in the suburban areas of Italy in the late 1950s, such as the villages and hamlets of Sardinia built by the regional institution ETFAS. The spatial outcomes of these small local schools show design principles that are still valid in contemporary learning models. Strengthening the role of architecture in educational processes and reinforcing the relationship between school and its extension to the urban context becomes a crucial point; the topic has been investigated during the fourth edition of the International Summer School ILS _ Innovative Learning Spaces – ‘a city for everyone’, in the workshop coordinated by the Colombian architect Giancarlo Mazzanti.