InsideOut School

InsideOut School
© Francesca Vittorini

INSIDEOUT SCHOOL

Andrea Tabocchini & Francesca Vittorini

ARCHITECTS
Andrea Tabocchini & Francesca Vittorini

WORKSHOP LEADERS
Andrea Tabocchini, Francesca Vittorini, Lori Zillante

WORKSHOP PARTICIPANTS
Adrian Aranda, Ali Abidi, Alessia Bernini, Anastasia Nechalioti, Aryan Vanaki, Austin Wyeth, Beatriz Villapecellin, Caterina Rogani, Elliot Rawlinson, Emma Barrett, Jaakko Torvinen, Katharina Kohlroser, Laura Conti, Luis Rubio, Marco Pappalardo, Margherità Memè, Miia Suomela, Nadia Avezzano, Nikolaos Nikolis, Paulius Kliucininkas, Pin Chih Liao, Po-Min Kung, Riccardo Guerri, Richard Migisha, Sara Signori, Shih-Kai Lin, Simone Argentesi, Sofia Toni, Tarindu Baggya Millawage, Timothy Kölle, Urszula Bajcer

LOCAL WORKERS
Abass Moahmmed, Abubakar Moahmmed, Afirifah Kwame, Anor Kwaku, Anthony Gbadagao, Anthony Visa, Edward Ampomah, Edward Boadu Twum, Eric Agyeman, Johnson Yeboah, Nimo Collins

PHOTOGRAPHS
Austin Wyeth,Francesca Vittorini, Shih-Kai Lin, Kathatina Kohlroser, Andrea Tabocchini, Beatriz Villapecellin

YEAR
2017

LOCATION
Abetenim, Ghana

CATEGORY
Schools

Text description provided by architect.

InsideOut is a school prototype built in Yeboahkrom, a rural village in Ghana where the wind had destroyed the only school in the area.

InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini
InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini

This non-profit project, designed by Andrea Tabocchini & Francesca Vittorini, won several international awards and was constructed in 60 days with just 12 000 euro, together with the local population and volunteers from 20 different countries.

Since no electricity was available it was built by hand, crafting materials available on site (earth, wood, and vegetation), moving by hand 58 000 kg of soil and planing 3km of wood with 2 hand planers.

InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini
InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini

The lack of resources and the site limitations become the opportunity to propose a sustainable design that merges architecture and landscape:

the staggered walls of the classrooms are built by compacting the local earth, a light wood structure lifts the roof up, allowing zenithal light into the building, and generates a natural ventilation of the spaces, while the vegetation of the garden becomes the continuation of the porches, increasing the shaded spaces to study outdoor.

InsideOut School
Courtesy of Tabocchini & Vittorini
InsideOut School
© Beatriz Villapecellin

The result is a work that blurs the boundary between inside and outside, offering an alternative to standard introverted classrooms and proposing an affordable and easily replicable design that values the local know-how and pushes its limits.


InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini
InsideOut School
© Beatriz Villapecellin
InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini
InsideOut School
© Andrea Tabocchini
InsideOut School
© Shih-Kai Lin
InsideOut School
© Shih-Kai Lin
InsideOut School
© Beatriz Villapecellin
InsideOut School
© Beatriz Villapecellin


InsideOut School
Floor Plan
InsideOut School
Concept Diagram


InsideOut School
Section
InsideOut School
Site References