Sant’Elia kindergarten

Giuseppe Terragni – Sant’Elia kindergarten, Como Italy, 1936-1937

The Sant'Elia nursery school, officially the "Antonio Sant'Elia" kindergarten, is a kindergarten in Como, located in via dei Mille, on the corner with via Andrea Alciato. It is a rationalist-style building designed in 1935 and built in 1936-1937 by Giuseppe Terragni.

In the work there is a certain affinity with the Casa del Fascio of Como, but contrary to this, it develops on one floor. The presence of large windows that develop the concept of open air school, carefully distributed environments and well-kept furnishings make this work exceptional.

Built in masonry on a reinforced concrete structural cage, the kindergarten is characterized by large and distinct backgrounds: full, with no concessions to protrusions from the facade; empty, with large glass surfaces that guarantee bright environments and transparency, direct communication between the internal space and the garden.
Frames, canopies, light elements emerge from the facades, deliberately detached to dialogue with the volumes. On via Alciato, the window at the entrance is set back, surpassed by a veranda; the canopy, lowered and distant, lets the light dry out. Slender pillars on the sides assist the cantilevered shelves.
Towards the garden the space of the classrooms can be expanded, outdoors, under the curtains spread between the building and the truss divided by pillars and a wall. As opposed to this, a canopy is grafted with a strong overhang, extended beyond the internal courtyard, up to the opposite building.
The earth line, the horizontal perception, absolutely dominates, thanks to the contained height, partly developed on two levels, and the extension in length of the fronts. The internal height is 4 and a half meters, the building does not exceed 5 meters.