Can you tell us about the Sant’Andrea school complex?

Sandy Attia: The interesting thing about this project is that there are four functions combined: kindergarten, primary school, library and multipurpose gym. This is truly multipurpose, also used by external associations, by a theatre association and other active associations in this small town. For such a small town, it almost becomes a civic centre, the centre of life. The message is that school still has civic value. It may be trivial, but it is reality. It is a civic architecture, and as such, it has depth and a right to beauty. The other aspect is that of post-occupancy. We conducted a joint research with the University of Bressanone to understand how people, working within a space if they are happy, interface with the structure. It’s more of a process aspect, but as an architect it doesn’t often happen to go back to your building. Having this opportunity, I was able to go and monitor other architects’ buildings, to find out what people said: the complaints, what worked, what didn’t. It is remarkably interesting for buildings such as schools. This project has been very painful. The administration’s process was a long and difficult confrontation, but it was still greatly satisfyin, even if within a participatory process, in which it always seems that there are requests that the architect must follow because they are imposed; the reality is that you have to offer your idea which then ends up in the system with the whole project. There are pros and cons in this process.