A state-of-the-art hospitality school

Creating a modern, up-to-date school in terms of education, safety and building redevelopment was one of the main aims of the renovation project for the entrance hall and teaching spaces at the IPSSEOA Buontalenti restaurant and hotel management school in Florence. The project to redesign part of the interiors assigned to architect Franca Leonor Tartaglia was championed by the head teacher Maria Francesca Cellai. The overall goal was to «make the entire school an educational space», the architect explained. Originally offering tourism courses, the ageing complex had become inadequate for today’s educational requirements and the need to prepare students for their future professions. The modern educational model was introduced as part of the 2015 Italian school reform law entitled «La Buona Scuola», which adopted innovative practices such as alternation between theory lessons and vocational training. Outside the classrooms, the school embraces the reality of the working world and its practices. The curricula are tailored to professions and include initiatives, projects and activities that reflect the kind of work the students will do in their future careers. To achieve this, the architect redesigned the entrance hall to create more functional areas. Inside this large space she set up a hotel reception area where students can train in a realistic hospitality context. She also created an indoor and outdoor aperitif service area «in line with the new educational programmes that allow students to gain experience in their future professional roles through an alternation between school and work», said Tartaglia. The visually-striking colour and lighting design play an important role in reinforcing the school’s identity by referencing the white and burgundy colours of its logo. The colours are reprised in the painted elements and the white of the reception desk designed by the architect, its elegant lines underscored by the LED lighting. The dark coloured porcelain floor produces a powerful contrast. The Interno 9 collection slabs from ABK, chosen in the colour Dark and a 60×60 cm size, create a uniform floor covering, a kind of black carpet that extends through the hotel reception spaces. The intense light enhances the shimmering industrial-look surfaces with their oxidised metal-inspired texture. Four large matt-painted grunge-style lamps hanging directly over the desk in the reception hall capture the observer’s gaze. The carefully crafted interior design project creates an overall impressive of a clean, essential style. This sensation of order and harmony has proved popular both with the teaching staff and especially with students themselves. «The students now feel welcome and are much more receptive to the learning experience. Their approval of these new spaces confirms that beauty plays a part in the educational process that begins in the classroom,» commented the architect.