The company nursery in Verona is on the GlaxoSmithKline company campus which is an enclave with a workforce of approximately 1500 people. The nursery is situated in a highly specialised and technical environment and the project had the object to carve out a domestic space in a semi-urban area made up of industrial buildings and warehouses. Thanks to the type choice and the materials selected this aim has been achieved with economy of means. The nursery occupies a rectangular site and is arranged around an elongated courtyard with an irregular plan. In this way, the building creates a protected space accommodating the open-air playground. The size of the building enveloping the courtyard varies considerably: the South filiform section is reduced to a portico while the large section to the North houses all the nursery spaces so that the teaching areas and canteen can look onto the courtyard through a large window and also benefit from better lighting. The large pitch roof uniformly covers the building following the movement of the layout and developing in pitches and variable heights. The roof is entirely made of wood and rests mainly on a perimeter wall consisting of prefabricated wooden panels. Large wooden and aluminium windows open onto the central garden which act as the barycentre of the building. The projecting roof defines another covered transitional space between inside and outside. This choice of materials underlines the domestic nature of the building and this also helped by the calm colours chosen for the interiors.

Total surface 420 smq (+ 560 smq garden)

2007 European Union Prize for Contemporary Architecture - Mies van der Rohe Award
(nominated work for catalogue and exhibition)