ODS ( officina dei Sogni )

Project idea

L’Officina dei Sogni (The Workshop of Dreams) is an educational third-place and a living library designed to redefine youth career orientation. Unlike traditional libraries, this space allows children to discover the concrete reality of professions through books, hands-on workshops, and direct interactions with professionals. It serves as an incubator of perspectives that transforms abstract dreams into tangible, personalized learning pathways.
●Inform and Guide: Provide hundreds of children with real, practical, and ecosystem-based knowledge of future professions.
●Reduce Inequalities: Equip children from vulnerable neighborhoods with the same professional world insights as those from privileged backgrounds.
●Foster Leadership: Encourage critical thinking, initiative, and innovation among youth so they no longer passively follow their future, but actively create it.
●Build a Mentorship Network: Connect the Ivorian professional sector (architects, artisans, scientists, entrepreneurs) with local youth through experiential sharing.
I am currently a high school student at the Lycée Classique d’Abidjan (Côte d’Ivoire). As a self-taught architecture enthusiast, I designed the entire L’Officina dei Sogni project by hand to demonstrate that with determination and proper guidance, youth can forge their own paths toward the future.

Project description

The heart of the project beats on the ground floor. This is a massive open hall that houses the Discovery-Library. It serves as the children's anchor—a space for free exploration where they come to stimulate their curiosity through books and interactive learning. Designed as a transition zone between the outside world and the realm of possibilities, it lays the foundation for learning before accessing specialized workshops.
The upper level rises in a highly symbolic geometric form: five circular buildings.The Symbolism of the Circle: The choice of the circular shape expresses a strict refusal of standardized molding. The circle has no sharp corners or sides; it rejects division and hierarchy. This architecture demonstrates that a thousand different paths and professions exist, yet all children move forward united and equal within the same movement.The Central Pavilion (The Orientation Hall) : The first circular building serves as the gateway and nerve center. It is a welcoming and transitional space that distributes flow toward the four other thematic workshops.The 4 Satellite Pavilions (The Hands-on Workshops): Connected directly to the central Hall, they embody the four pillars of career discovery:
●The Art Workshop: A space dedicated to creativity, design, architecture, and manual expression.
●The Ecosystem Workshop: A learning hub for sustainability, environment, urban agriculture, and life sciences.
●The Digital Workshop: An immersive space dedicated to technologies, coding, digital creation, and robotics.
●The Communication Workshop: A laboratory for oral expression, writing, media, and leadership development.

Technical information

The construction of L’Officina dei Sogni relies on a hybrid architectural approach. It combines modern engineering and local eco-construction to ensure building longevity while minimizing its carbon footprint.
Concrete and Steel: Used for the foundations, the ground floor slab, and the load-bearing framework. This combination guarantees maximum long-term structural stability, ensuring child safety and allowing flexible design for large open volumes like the Discovery-Library.CEB (Compressed Earth Block): The infill walls and the 5 upper circular pavilions are primarily built using CEBs. This eco-friendly material promotes local craftsmanship. It also provides excellent thermal mass, naturally regulating indoor temperatures to keep spaces cool without heavy reliance on intensive air conditioning.
Local Woods (Iroko, etc.): Custom furniture (workstations, library shelves, workshop seating) is fully crafted from sustainable, local wood species, primarily Iroko. Renowned for its high resistance to pests and impacts, Iroko symbolizes the project's cultural roots within the Ivorian flora and ensures robust furniture capable of withstanding heavy daily use by children

Documentation

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