2A+P/A and IaN+: Cutuli Primary School

Designed by 2A+P/A and IaN+ architects, the Maria Grazia Cutuli Primary School has recently been shortlisted for the 2013 Aga Khan Award for Architecture. The school was built in honour of Italian journalist Maria Grazia Cutuli, who was murdered in Afghanistan in 2001, and represents an alternative approach to emergency school design for war-torn areas. Like a small village, the complex is intended to resemble an unplanned juxtaposing of elements enclosed by a boundary wall.

The school accommodates eight classrooms, various staff quarters, a double-height library and a garden which acts as a “green classroom”. Built of reinforced concrete with brick cladding, the structures are painted. The walls’ range of blue tones reflects the "lapis lazuli" pigment used on local pottery, while window frames are in contrasting red.

2A+P/A, IaN+: Maria Grazia Cutuli Primary School
Location: Herat, Afghanistan
Architect: 2A+P/A, IaN+, Mario Cutuli, Rome, Italy
Client: Maria Grazia Cutuli Foundation
Completed: 2011
Site size: 650 square metres
Total site area: 2,000 square metres