The school is located in the municipality of Carrara. The project defines an architectural organism closely linked to the residential context: It is a building set between the city and the countryside and as such it relates to different spaces and lexicons according to the functional, aesthetic and landscape requirements. On the southern front, it overlooks the historic centre of Marina di Carrara and this proximity allows all the activities for collective use, such as the lecture hall, the gym and the library, to be placed in a new and prestigious urban space, paved and tree-lined. Thus the school opens out again on the city and is no longer hidden by a fence.

Like a city, the school of Carrara is intended to be a children’s community, with a square, outdoor spaces, classrooms simulating homes, services and community activities.

The multi-sports field and park located in the centre of the three schools (the project school and the other existing two) form an ideal space for socialising. Internal connective spaces, usually represented by long and narrow corridors, are transformed into agoras in which to foster inclusiveness and conviviality. The courtyard refers to unity, all the classrooms face the centre, and for everyone the court is the centre of their world, a place to enjoy conviviality and friendship.

On the ground floor, the atrium is permeable and transparent and connects the two courtyards, the urban and the rural.

On the first floor and on the internal courtyard, the classrooms open up to support the students’ growth, adapting to the changing needs over time and for this reason sliding panels ensure flexibility.

The school space is fluid and flexible. It houses both more private and larger spaces in which to hold events, workshops, exhibitions, open to the public. Each classroom has its own dedicated outdoor space, either in the courtyard or on the garden terraces. The walls are sliding, equipped with lockers and contain technological spaces reserved for systems installations. The presence of specific furniture is used to allow the reconfiguration of the class, also in relation to the methodological approaches adopted. Direct contact with the external space through the glass wall creates a large experimental laboratory that inspires the student, avoiding any feeling of occlusion and promoting outdoor education.

The structure of the building, which complies with the current 2018 Technical Standards for Construction, has been designed with a load-bearing steel framework and cast-in-place reinforced concrete joists on fretted metal sheet. The choice to use steel is motivated by the following reasons: to mainly use materials that are easily recyclable once the life of the building is over, to use the lightest and most ductile construction material and therefore naturally anti-seismic, and to limit to the maximum the structural weights and therefore the use of substantial foundations in order to minimise the earth movements that have a major impact on the environment (excavation, transport and landfill). The building has an almost symmetrical plan, guaranteeing an excellent seismic behaviour in terms of shape, without creating discontinuity points with a subsequent increase in the acting tensions. Part of the structure will have a green roof, housing a vegetal blanket using a low specific weight soil, such as SEDUM, another part instead will have an intensive green roof but only where the structure has only one floor above ground level. A green roof is synonymous with thermal comfort and storm water runoff control.

Opaque ventilated façade systems are provided to mitigate the direct radiation to the south. The presence of a brown roof ensures waterproofing, thermal and acoustic insulation, water regulation and clean air. The gym and restaurant have a photovoltaic and solar thermal system: the first to be used to produce energy, and the second to power the heating system. A storm water collection system and a grey water treatment system shall also be installed, which will be reused for irrigation and sanitation respectively. The external flooring is light-coloured (partly in local bush-hammered marble) to ensure brightness and decrease the heat island effect in the summer season. Surface permeability is ensured by using permeable paving (the most prevalent type in this project is pervious concrete) and surfaces with excellent water storage capacity such as green roofs, limiting rainwater run-off to a minimum. In addition to the storage tank for irrigation, there is also a stormwater attenuation tank to capture water from impermeable surfaces so lightening the hydraulic load.

Modern energy-saving needs, driven not only by regulatory constraints but also by the contingencies of rising fuel costs, have provided the guideline for designing a highly efficient building-plant system, capable of achieving the highest energy classification (A4) and the NZEB requirement (with a 20% reduction). The result will be achieved through the careful and reasoned use of insulating materials in combination with traditional building components, the careful study of structural nodes for the minimisation of thermal bridges, the selection of transparent components with high-performance low-emission glass, the effective use of fixed or mobile shading systems for the use of free heat inputs in winter and their shielding in summer, the use of a heat pump generation system for both ambient air conditioning and domestic hot water production. These elements, working in synergy with the large photovoltaic solar field that the building will be equipped with, will allow for a minimum effective consumption with the energy provider in terms of annual balance or could even be in the negative in some phases of the heating season. A system for the recovery and reuse of rainwater as described above shall be provided. Ambient lighting uses LED lamps and works following the circadian light cycle with an adaptive dimming system. Good acoustics are essential for schools, in addition to fostering learning for every pupil they are an indispensable prerequisite for children with learning difficulties. The goals of this school’s acoustic design are to protect against noise and to ensure the acoustic quality of indoor spaces.