1,100-Pupil School in Moscow

Outdoor playground within the landscaped grounds of the 1,100-pupil school in Moscow

Outdoor sports area beside the contemporary school building in Moscow

Street facade of ATRIUM’s school in Moscow with layered white metal cladding

Landscaped school courtyard with informal seating and outdoor learning areas

Multi-level school atrium with amphitheatre and shared learning spaces

Informal learning and recreation space connected to the central school atrium

Flexible recreation space for pupils with informal learning areas and play elements

School library with reading areas and spaces for individual study

Music classroom with acoustic wall panels at the 1,100-pupil school in Moscow

Dressing room at the 1,100-pupil school in Moscow

Multipurpose sports hall inside ATRIUM’s school in Moscow

School dining hall designed as part of the shared social environment

Gallery

School for 1,100 Pupils in Moscow

location: Russia, Moscow

typology: school

site area: 1 ha

total area: 20,000 m²

capacity: 1,100 pupils

design: 2025

architects: Anton Nadtochiy, Vera Butko, Anastasia Galutkina, Anna Vorobyeva, Asiya Gadzhieva, Natalia Zubovich, Olga Kozak, Ekaterina Kotlova, Maria Lyubinskaya, Ekaterina Treibaks

ATRIUM is designing a state school for 1,100 pupils in Moscow’s Meshchansky District, introducing contemporary school architecture into a dense historic urban context. Located at the intersection of Bolshaya Pereyaslavskaya Street, Astrakhansky Lane and Protopopovsky Lane, the project is conceived as a compact urban campus with interconnected learning, social and outdoor spaces.

The building is conceived as a compact urban campus. Several volumes of varying height are rotated in response to the site and assembled into a single sculptural composition. This arrangement separates the main pupil flows while maintaining a clear relationship between the different age groups and shared spaces. Separate entrances for the primary and secondary schools reinforce this internal organisation.

At the centre of the school is a multi-level atrium that functions as its social core. An amphitheatre, open libraries, co-working areas and informal meeting spaces are arranged around it, creating a shared forum for lectures, exhibitions, discussions and everyday interaction. Daylight enters through rooflights and panoramic glazing, while the dining hall below opens onto a small courtyard terrace.

The facades express the internal programme through shifts in material, transparency and texture. Metal cladding, rendered surfaces and aluminium-framed glazing give each part of the building its own character while maintaining a coherent architectural language. Semi-structural glazing with coloured inserts marks the recreation areas and brings changing light and reflections into the interiors.

The landscape extends the school beyond the building. Playgrounds, sports areas, an outdoor amphitheatre and a formal entrance square are connected by a continuous pedestrian network, turning the site into an additional layer of the learning environment.

The project develops the idea of the school as a “city in miniature” — a spatial framework for learning, communication and growing independence.