Gheorghe Asachi High School

Next to the nineteenth-century chapel of the Girls' Secondary School by A. Bernardazzi, on the block between 31 August and Bucharest Streets, the Gh. Asachi High School occupies a site with an educational history stretching back 155 years. Semyon Shoikhet and A. Krichenko developed the design at the Moldgiprostroy Institute, completed in 1969. The complex is composed of two distinct volumes: a taller classroom block and a lower two-storey gymnasium block facing 31 August Street. Wing-like elements project from the lateral sides of the gymnasium volume, and two continuous concrete friezes run along the top of the building as a cornice, their cast white panels creating a rhythmic pattern across the facade. The original drawings show that certain structural solutions were discarded during design due to budget and regulatory constraints, though the modular concrete panel system that was built retains a considered formal quality. The positioning of the buildings leaves the area facing Pushkin Street open, maintaining good visibility and an unobstructed forecourt. The glass panes of the classroom block are legible from the street, giving the building a degree of transparency unusual for an institutional structure of the period.