Balsiai Primary School in Vilnius City

About object:

The school has been projected as a model corresponding to the new school paradigm: it is not only an educational institution, but also an attractive space encouraging interaction not only among the students. The common spaces (a library, a dining room, a meeting hall, a sports hall, and a court of outdoor sports) are fitted for the use of local community after school hours.
When designing the school as a dominant, the architects confined themselves strictly to the small scale typical of the surrounding property development: they set out a quarter of the interconnected two-storey school blocks by the principle of chess in an oblong land plot. The courtyards formed between the blocks became cosy spaces providing the premises with natural daylight.
The complex is divided into three functional areas. In a central zone, to which the main entrance leads, the blocks of specialized facilities – the library, the classrooms of languages, biology, and laboratories – are situated. From here, the flows are distributed into the parts of the classrooms or the sports halls, the dining hall, and the meeting hall.
Laterally, there stands a primary school (with 384 places) and a basic school (with 720 places) connected by a corridor, but with separate entrances. The premises of the classrooms are divided according to 4 age groups, each of them with its own recreational area and a patio.

R. Leitanaitė