The proposed design idea considers the new school, not only as an innovative learning space intended for its users, but as a real community place, designed to offer new spaces intended to promote confrontation and integration; a familiar and protective place in which to find oneself at different stages of individual development and on different occasions of collective life; a place capable of fitting within the context, increasing and encouraging its development. The project provides ample gathering spaces for the community, endowing the facility with a wide range of educational, educational and recreational opportunities.

The proposal consists of the inclusion of three basement volumes containing the shared functions of the School Citadel, permeable and traversable by plant and sports spaces, above which is the volume containing classrooms and laboratory spaces. The school building was sized in compliance with DM 18/12/1975, and the guidelines for new schools approved by DM No. 106 of 04/26/2022, considering 36 classrooms divided among different school addresses: high school, technical institute and vocational institute, for a total of 875 pupils.

The building is spread over four levels and looks like a rational organism within which the various activities are articulated. In contrast to the compactness of the building, the design was developed by emphasizing a formal duality, reflecting the co-presence within it of functions shared with the other institutes of the Student Citadel and activities pertaining exclusively to the school that is the subject of this competition. As a result, the first two levels house all shared functions such as the cafeteria, library, gymnasium and extracurricular activities: through a process of fragmentation, an articulated, bustling and stimulating landscape suitable for socialization is defined.

In fact, thanks to large covered spaces, crossings, overlooks and double heights, protective environments are generated that invite discovery and pause. The last two levels house the laboratories and classrooms for teaching, which constitute a compact volume placed above the two levels for shared activities. This volume is punctuated by large central patios that also illuminate it internally, visually connecting the various levels.

The primary objective was to envision the design of the new educational institution as a device to consolidate and at the same time enhance the entire Student Citadel. For this reason, it was decided to locate the school in the eastern part of the lot, thus creating large open spaces for sharing with the neighboring school buildings. In addition, the proposal takes into account the future transformations that will affect this portion of the area, consisting of the definition of «an area for activities for culture» that together with the neighboring sports hall will constitute a new cultural core for the city of Bagheria.

In this perspective the new school building now becomes the limit of the citadel now, in a reversal of the point of view, a gateway, a new gateway to it. At the same time, following the indications of the PRG, a road system was designed that runs perimeterally to the lot, so as to ensure easy accessibility to the area, which can be done safely both on foot and by bicycle. In addition, new parking areas have been created on the perimeter of the lot that serve the school without creating vehicle crowding.