Cagliari, Mereu Outdoor School

The building is located on the area of the ancient Beato Amedeo bastion, in the street named after the same designer, Ubaldo Badas, active in the Technical Office of the City of Cagliari, and should be considered one of the happiest of his many interventions in the city.
Inaugurated in 1935, the school was created with the aim of educating children suffering from trachoma or tuberculosis, justifying the presence of large outdoor spaces in which to carry out teaching activities.
The entrance is through a portal covered with alternating blocks of white limestone and red vulcanite, a material, the latter, also present in the three bays inserted inside. The reference to the two-color of the medieval architecture tradition in Sardinia, inherited from that of Pisa, is evident.
The building is divided asymmetrically with a body protruding in a semicircle, where there is the space that leads into the classrooms, created with a slightly offset of volumes in order to obtain direct lighting from above. It is spread over a single floor that also housed the refectory and common areas, meeting extremely functional criteria, as recommended for buildings of this type.

Bibliography
"Cagliari. Scuola all'aperto 'Attilio Mereu, medaglia d'oro'", in L'architettura italiana, 9, 1935, pp. 334-335;
G. Loddo, Cagliari. Architetture dal 1900 al 1945, Cagliari, Coedisar, 1999, p. 58;
F. Masala, Architettura dall'Unità d'Italia alla fine del '900. Nuoro, Ilisso, 2001, scheda 69;
P. Sanjust, Ubaldo Badas. Architetture 1930-1940, Cagliari, Cuec, 2002.