The The site is an open foothill landscape, currently characterized by uncultivated grassland. This context offers the opportunity to create an educational landscape, a space capable of establishing a dialogue with the natural environment while restoring public value to the territory. The design concept is rooted in a sensitive interpretation of the foothill terrain. The building is conceived less as a traditional architectural volume and more as an environmental infrastructure.
The composition is defined by retaining walls that function both as green enclosures and terraces. Beneath these elements lie the educational spaces, in harmony with the surrounding natural context. Open areas become extensions of the learning environment, enabling forms of active and experiential education. The overall design establishes a dialogue with the surrounding agricultural landscape and hillside slopes through a restrained, context-sensitive language.

The built volumes relinquish their urban identity, transforming into territorial infrastructures—green terraces that accommodate wedges of landscape.
The façades are modulated to follow the natural topography and to frame open views toward the hills. Outdoor spaces are conceived as an integral part of the educational framework: vegetable gardens, learning gardens, informal pathways, and threshold zones between interior and exterior extend the classroom environment into the natural landscape.

The architectural layout is organized into two main volumes—the school and the gymnasium—arranged according to principles of volumetric balance and visual permeability. The plan unfolds on a single level, in a courtyard configuration that encloses a central green space accessible to students.
The educational spaces are designed to be inclusive, flexible, and interconnected. Classrooms and laboratories open onto shared areas and green spaces. Thematic ateliers and a reading space enrich the learning experience, while the inner courtyard becomes the vibrant heart of the project: an open yet protected space, educational yet informal. A built environment that is permeable to the landscape, offering the community a space that is alive, welcoming, and generative.
The vertical walls that define the classroom spaces emerge to underscore their infrastructural character, extending to contain the central terraced courtyard in a seamless transition between building and landscape. The green roof over the classrooms fosters a direct dialogue between architecture and nature, contributing to visual mitigation and morphological integration with the natural surroundings.
Interior common spaces echo the green ceiling concept, bringing nature into the heart of the school. Classrooms become shafts of light opening onto the landscape. The generous openings along the main corridors act as visual corridors, drawing the surrounding landscape into the interior.

Occupant comfort is achieved through the calibrated management of airflows, natural lighting, and acoustic performance. The project incorporates solutions for rainwater harvesting, along with the use of materials with high recycled content, designed for disassembly at the end of their life cycle.
Energy performance meets nZEB standards, thanks to the exclusive use of electricity as the sole energy vector, entirely supplied by on-site renewable sources.

Location
Spezzano Fiorano Modenese, Italy

Year
2025

Design team
Luigi Benatti, Carlo Rotellini, Francesco Pergetti, Costanza Dondi, Pietro Benedettini, Amruta Kishore, Patrizio Chiavarini, Massimo Savini, Claudia Pacchiega, Andrea Talevi

Consultants
Struttura s.r.l

Client
Municipality Fiorano Modenese

Status
In progress