The land around San Giuliano Terme already carries its own drawing: the bend of the Serchio, the grid the Romans left on the fields, the axis running off the Villa Medicea at Arena Metato. The school of 3,000 sqm takes those lines as the starting point and works as a piece of landscape as much as a building. Staggered modules follow one another along a route that grows with the pupils. Classrooms open onto outdoor rooms for lessons in the open air, the nursery keeps its own courtyard while staying connected, and green hollows collect water and take the pressure off a site exposed to flooding. Out of school hours the plan lets the community use the building.

I was an intern at Valle 3.0 while this competition was running. I took part in the early concept work and produced part of the preliminary schemes and studies behind the layout. The entry came third.