Architects: Claudia Montedoro, Sebastian Benzoni, Gianluca Ricciolini, Martin Taglianetti, Anna Urso
Project type: Competition – 1st Prize
Year: 2023
Construction year: 2024/26
Location: Trani, Italia
Winning proposal in the Futura Design Competition, for the demolition and reconstruction of the new Papa Giovanni XXIII school in Trani, Italy, organized by the Italian Ministry of Education, as part of the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (PNRR), funded by the European Union (Next Generation EU).
The new Papa Giovanni XXIII school appears as a building complex composed of various volumes that are developed according to their function on one or two levels. The distributive spaces acquire a fundamental role, becoming an active part of the learning landscape and unifying the different volumes into a single building entity.
Upon closer observation of the planimetric distribution, it becomes clear that the apparent fragmentation of the building is nothing but a constant dialogue between indoor and outdoor spaces, mediated by the conciliatory presence of common and connecting areas, which elevate the structure to unity.
In the development of the proposal, the concept of the school as a civic center was kept in mind, taking care to design paths, interior and exterior, that would ensure its use at any time of the day, throughout the year.
To achieve the not-so-easy goal of designing one of the new “schools of the future,” the focus was on the design of all spaces in the new educational hub by enhancing their flexibility of use. All spaces can be configured in different ways, depending on their intended use, whether or not planned in the design, through the opening of these to outdoor spaces or to neighboring rooms, the dynamism of pathways that allow the school to be used by both students and citizens even during school hours, and the use of construction elements that can be easily disassembled and reused in case of any future needs.
