PROGRAM & OBJECTIVES The particularities of the program encourage us to conceive of the study area, beyond its geometric and topographical aspects, as a “substrate”, a biotope subject to a climate. The project is an “emergence of the site” which builds a place capable of shining on the neighborhood and manifesting its exemplary presence there. The project expresses through its implementation 2 ways of connecting to the ground:
– By anchoring the lower wing of the classrooms to the North, marking a clear urban boundary and a corner return with Rue Arthur Rimbaud.
– By raising the gymnasium above the Adult Pole. This separation makes it possible to slide a sheltered square under the volume of the gymnasium and clearly indicate the single entrance.
The volumetric sobriety expresses the institution, and its materiality a benevolent and familiar presence. Brick, plaster and wood evoke a haptic perception of architecture.
Each material expresses an objective: expression of the mass for the exterior perimeters bordering the city, and expression of the framework for the interior limits. Each material displays its relationship with its environment: the raw edge of the brick walls and the porosity of the spaces between wooden posts.
Each of these materials also recalls its original link with its territory: the forest for the wood and the earth for the coating and brick.