From the classroom to the educational cluster: a future-oriented innovation with roots in the past

Abstract

In the 1960s, the school principal Marcello Trentanove carried out a pilot project at the Rimaggio school near Florence. The school’s classrooms integrated outside areas and internal spaces to promote differentiated educational pathways and open classes. This innovation led to an overhaul of the traditional ‘undifferentiated classroom’ space.
Two elements characterized this change: the educational cluster and the internally diversified classroom. The same original elements – reinterpreted in a modern way _ are today at the centre of an innovative school refurbishment plan. The educational cluster organization offers solutions linked to the concept of the "classroom plus", supporting workshop-based practices and organization by subject departments. The classroom is internally divided into learning zones and connected to the external spaces.
The paper takes a deeper look at the actual spatial configuration of the school, highlighting the continuity with the innovation introduced under Trentanove’s guidance, strengthening the relationship between pedagogy and space.