Barberio Colella Architetti
    Masterplan for the Trani school complex, including a park and allotments

    Architettura Specialistica

    Trani School – Pope John XXIII Bioclimatic School Complex

    A new nursery and primary school complex that transforms a derelict area of Trani into an educational urban park, featuring a civic square and a regenerative approach that goes beyond the NZEB logic.

    2021 · Trani (BT) · School architecture · Public & Commercial Architecture · Sustainable design

    An educational park for Trani: agora, educational gardens and bioclimatic design

    The design for the new Pope John XXIII school complex in Trani emerged from the FUTURA competition, the national programme for the regeneration of school architecture. The proposal, which came second (provisional rankings), addresses an urgent issue for the city: the redevelopment of the site of the former school complex, which was closed as a precautionary measure by the local council in 2019, into a new centre for nursery and primary schools capable of becoming an urban hub for the surrounding residential neighbourhood. The building is relocated from its previous site and situated within a new urban park that increases the green and permeable area of the plot, bordered by a service ring road.

    The heart of the project is the central agora: a double‑height space featuring a small sunken theatre for alternative educational activities and a semi-circular staircase connecting the two levels. On the ground floor, the agora serves as a reception area; on the first floor, it transforms into an open-plan library with alcoves for individual and group study. This space is not merely a connecting element: it is a bioclimatic device, the large windows and the solid Trani stone flooring accumulate heat during the cold months, whilst the openings at the top create a chimney effect for natural ventilation in summer. The division of the volumes allows access to the agora and the gym even during after-school hours, making the school a meeting point for the neighbourhood.

    The building comprises three volumes of varying heights, sloping down towards Via Papa Giovanni XXIII, with a predominantly east-west orientation. All classrooms face east to maximise natural light during school hours, preventing overheating and glare. The nursery school, in the lowest volume, has a separate entrance and classrooms directly connected to enclosed green spaces; the primary school occupies the next two volumes, with spacious and flexible connecting areas. The outdoor space is an integral part of the educational programme: vegetable gardens adjoining the canteen to experiment with locally sourced produce, educational playgrounds, and a recycling centre to raise awareness of the waste cycle. The curved pathways are colour-coded (shades of yellow for the nursery, shades of purple for the primary school) with coordinated plant species.

    The load‑bearing structure uses a prefabricated reinforced concrete (RC) system with green low-carbon concrete (CO₂ emissions up to 90% lower than standard concrete), hempcrete insulation, ventilated walls of local stone on the south-facing facades, and foundations on seismic isolators. The building envelope is designed to minimise the urban heat island effect thanks to roofs with a high solar reflectance index and ventilated cavities. The building services aim for energy self-sufficiency with rooftop photovoltaic systems, small-scale wind turbines, energy storage, chilled beams for silent air conditioning and circadian lighting that replicates the variation in natural light throughout the day. The vegetation (mimosas, jacarandas, citrus trees, lavender and rosemary) has been selected for its low water requirements and its role in regulating the microclimate: providing shade, filtering winds and purifying the air.

    Renders & Photos

    Render of the Trani school gym, open to the community
    1 / 7
    The multi-purpose sports hall, designed for use by the school community and local residents.

    Technical specifications

    Location
    Trani (BT), Apulia
    Year
    2022
    Client
    Municipality of Trani
    Typology
    School architecture, Nursery and primary schools
    Area
    2,546.63 square metres (gross floor area of the new building)
    Status
    Design competition
    Designers
    Micaela Colella (group leader), Maurizio Barberio, Angelo Figliola, Ilaria Cavaliere, Dario Costantino
    Awards
    Second place (provisional rankings), FUTURA Competition, Papa Giovanni XXIII School

    Technical drawings

    Entries for the FUTURA competition at Trani Secondary School
    1 / 3
    Competition drawings for the second stage, including cross-sections, construction details and the project’s bioclimatic strategies.

    How do you build an innovative school in Southern Italy that is truly sustainable and open to the local community?

    The FUTURA programme set a clear challenge: to move beyond the model of the school as a closed container of classrooms and corridors, and to design buildings that are simultaneously energy-efficient, flexible in their educational use, and capable of fostering connections with the local area. In Southern Italy, where school buildings are often the most dilapidated and where climatic conditions require specific strategies for summer cooling, the temptation is to rely entirely on mechanical systems or to replicate Northern models without adaptation. The project for Trani demonstrates an alternative approach: the architecture itself (orientation, building envelope, thermal mass, vegetation, open spaces) becomes the primary climate control system, with mechanical systems playing a supplementary role. The agora with its local stone paving, the educational gardens, the colour-coded pathways and the neighbourhood sports hall are not mere decorations: they are the physical embodiment of the idea of a school as civic infrastructure.

    Frequently Asked Questions

    An NZEB (Near Zero Energy Building) aims to consume almost zero energy from non-renewable sources. The regenerative approach goes further: the building does not merely reduce its own environmental impact, but generates active environmental benefits, improving the urban microclimate through an increase in permeable surfaces and vegetation, reducing the heat island effect with reflective roofs and ventilated walls, purifying the air via selected plant species, and producing surplus energy through photovoltaic systems and small-scale wind turbines with storage. In the Trani project, this translates into an urban park that did not exist before, with permeable surfaces increased compared to the previous state.

    The agora is a double‑height space with large glazed surfaces and solid Trani stone flooring. In the colder months, solar radiation passes through the glazing and is absorbed by the thermal mass of the stone, which releases heat gradually, reducing the load on the heating system. In the warmer months, the openings at the top activate the chimney effect: warm air rises and is expelled naturally, creating a ventilation flow that cools the adjacent learning spaces without the need for mechanical systems. This passive contribution allows the use of the active system to be drastically reduced in both seasons.

    The choice of green low-carbon concrete (with CO2 emissions up to 90% lower than standard concrete) is linked to three factors: the need for high thermal mass to enable passive bioclimatic strategies (concrete stores and releases heat more effectively than timber), compatibility with the seismic isolators in the foundations, and the availability of a local supply chain for precast reinforced concrete (RC). The hempcrete insulation and local stone cladding on the south-facing facades complete the building envelope, which integrates thermal, seismic and heat island reduction performance.

    Every element of the outdoor space has a specific educational function. The vegetable gardens, which extend from the canteen, allow pupils to experience locally sourced food production. The recycling centre is designed to raise awareness of the waste cycle. The educational playgrounds are positioned in relation to the internal functions. The curved pathways are colour-coded (shades of yellow for the nursery, purple for the primary school) with coordinated plant species that change with the seasons, allowing children to observe natural rhythms. The vegetation (mimosas, jacarandas, citrus trees, lavender) also serves a microclimatic function: providing shade, shading from the wind and purifying the air.

    The sports hall is designed for complete functional autonomy: it has independent access from the school grounds thanks to the compartmentalisation of the spaces and the REI door system. This allows it to be used during after-school hours by local residents without compromising school safety. The same principle applies to the agora, which during after-school hours becomes a space for events, meetings and community activities. The school and the gym become the link with the adjacent residential neighbourhood.

    The project involves selective demolition using a deconstruction methodology: the building is dismantled by reversing the construction process, floor by floor, using mini-excavators on the existing floor slabs to minimise dust, noise and vibrations. Materials are separated into homogeneous fractions for recycling, with the aim of recovering at least 70% of non-hazardous waste. A perimeter scaffolding enclosure with sheet metal panels contains emissions and debris. As the school complex had already been closed since 2019, it was not necessary to provide temporary facilities to ensure educational continuity.

    The estimated parametric cost for the project is €1,928.46 per square metre (including demolition at €203.46/m² and new construction at €1,725/m²), for a total amount of approximately €4.9 million. This figure falls within the range specified in the call for proposals (€1,600–€2,400/m²). The integrated design has made it possible to avoid applying the 18% surcharge normally imposed for exceeding the NZEB requirements by more than 20%, as passive bioclimatic strategies replace costly traditional building services systems rather than being added to them. ---

    Are you taking part in a design competition for a school or a public building in southern Italy?

    School architecture projects are the sector where architectural quality and sustainability have the most measurable impact, on students’ comfort, energy costs and neighbourhood life. If you are working on a FUTURA tender, a PNRR competition or an urban regeneration project and are looking for a team with experience in integrated bioclimatic design and public competitions, we can discuss the opportunity together.

    Let’s talk about your project

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