Special Education school in Pawlikowski / 2019

The concept of the school building was created from the need to improve the operating conditions of an existing school with a pre-school department, to improve teaching conditions and to adapt the school to the needs related to the care of people with disabilities.

The main assumption was to expand the space with specialized didactic rooms and pedagogical facilities of a special school together with a gym and to combine the new function of the facility with the buildings existing on the plot (Kindergarten No. 23 named after L. Krzemieniecka and Special School No. 22) to allow direct access for all students to the gym.

The newly designed space will also be a place for students with mild to moderate intellectual disabilities. The possibility of conflicts between these groups of students, related to their different disabilities, including often difficulty in communicating with each other, has created three functional zones: teaching rooms for students with mild mental disability, teaching rooms for students with moderate mental disability, and some shared, including dining room, gym and specialized rooms, which is also a buffer between students. The use of rooms in the middle zone (buffer) is under the constant supervision of caregivers. Access is regulated by closing corridors to limit students’ contact with varying degrees of disability.

The idea of creating a block, which is a connector, allowed for close and practically direct connection of both existing buildings, additionally equipping the space between them with elements forming a common part. Further on, there are teaching rooms separated by an atrium, thanks to which they are well lit, which has a positive effect on students’ development.

Elements of greenery in the form of internal courtyards and external terraces divide the teaching rooms, illuminate the rooms and perform a therapeutic function, creating sensory gardens, accessible directly from the rooms, separated individually for individual zones.