Premio Internazionale “Leonardo Paterna Baldizzi” destinato, per il 2022, a un progetto di architettura o di ingegneria civile. Attribuito dall’Accademia dei Lincei.

During the 2014’s war in Gaza Strip, Children’s Land built in 2011 was destroyed. In 2015 we designed and rebuilt the new center with Vento di Terra N.G.O. . The new Children's Land Centre is the new kindergarten for the Um al Nasser community. Our response to local cultural requirements was to design an introverted architectural plan, creating a sheltered oasis, a safe haven. Key element of the project is the Nubian Vault, made of compressed earth blocks. The vault is found in the porch and characterizes each classroom. Its repetition creates the sense of a series of dunes, like a continuous line, where children can play and socialise in the lower section. The Nubian Vault technique represents an innovative solution for the Gaza Strip, where the di in ding supplies requires the use of local materials and low tech and low cost solutions. Shared and classrooms, a wide courtyard and a small introverted patio o the right conditions for innovative teaching methods. Beside cost considerations all our technical choices have advantages in terms of the bioclimatic behaviour of the building. The brick walls of compressed earth have a high thermal inertia; the designed greenroofs would increase thermal insulation in the winter and help cooling in the summer; cross ventilation in the classrooms increases comfort and small high windows facilitate the extraction of hot air. The white painted vaults r incident solar radiation in the summer and create a visual connection to the sky, while sand-plastered outer.