Secondary school, San Daniele del Friuli
Agency fo International Development (AID)
Load-bearing structure: beams and piers in reinforced concrete
Façade: white plaster
Roof: pitched roof with wooden beams
Windows: wood, painted white
The school in San Daniele is part of a much more extensive project financed by the Agency for International Development, sponsors of the reconstruction of community sites destroyed by the earthquake in Friuli Venezia Giulia in 1973.
In particular, this agency with headquarters in Washington financed the construction of eight school buildings, entrusting their design to Italian designers including Umberto Riva, Giancarlo De Carlo, Marco Zanuso and Gianni Avon (and of course Magistretti).
The worksite in Friuli opened a little after the completion of the school in Meda designed by Magistretti and Gae Aulenti. However its architectural type differs from the one in Meda: the school in San Daniele is a small complex of independent pavilions, all different in form, height and function, arranged around a central patio leading, amongst other things, to the aula magna and the music room. Each block, defined by Magistretti as "a small house", has a portico with two columns marking the entrance towards the city. Instead the classrooms have big windows overlooking the countryside.
Magistretti also focused extensively on many of the internal finishings, revealing his meticulous attention to details: the white and grey chequered vinyl floor, and the design of the exposed wooden trusses in the communal rooms of the school, e.g., the gymnasium.
Austin Italia: nasce il Gruppo BM, in Modulo 174, settembre 1991
R. Bianchi, Bozza di articolo "I tre volti di Magistretti" per La mia casa, dicembre 1991
P.C. Santini, Friuli cinque anni dopo (2), in Ottagono 63, 1981, pp. 20-25
F. Irace, V. Pasca, Vico Magistretti, architetto e designer, Milano 1999, p. 86-87
