Talking about urbanity - Dialogue
The Coteaux Beauclair BIA is bringing a new neighbourhood to life in the town of Rosny-sous-Bois. The school complex, topped with housing units, will be an emblematic island. Clinging to the hillside, the island follows the slope, opens up to the sky, provides clear views and encourages sunshine. The insertion of the buildings in the direction of the slope naturally opens the project to the landscape. The volumes are designed to favour and optimize natural light, by freeing up the North-South axis.
Kindergarten and elementary classes take place in the heart of the block, favouring both generous sunshine and privacy from the street. The terraces on the ground floor will accommodate an educational vegetable garden for the pupils and a shared vegetable garden for the residents. Beyond the strong link it creates with nature, the school group expresses the path of elevation brought by education through the image of the ladder that climbs up the terrace towards the primary school.
The three buildings benefit from a south-east/north-west orientation, allowing better organization of the day/night spaces. We favour the presence of generous outdoor spaces on all floors. The expressions of the volumes and their materials allow us to animate the façades and to dialogue with the school, through the creation of a 6th colourful facade on the underside of the balconies, favouring the creation of a playful place of learning where the smallest of the inhabitants will have their first experiences of learning in this school group.
Talking about childhood - Protecting
It is a question of creating a favourable "environment", full of amenity, where clarity of movement, quality of orientation and spatial hygiene combine to provide "the place of the school".
Firstly by taking as major conditions the safety and the simplification of the daily practice of the school, we have arranged the program in a pierced base. The pedestal inhabited by the school is hollowed out with courses that provide air and light; just as the "world above" responds to the "world below", the "world inside" responds to the "world outside". As if wrapped around a heart of trees, the school protects itself, isolates itself from all kinds of nuisances and dangers.
Secondly, taking as a major condition the sunshine in the nursery/primary classes, we have arranged the different programs with open arms towards the outside spaces. Two levels on the ground floor, which integrates the shared common spaces and their exterior extensions, allows the sun to illuminate the classes without being overly masked by its own volumes. This solution shelters the private recreational space from nuisances and views from the public/accommodation space, while simply being connected to the city by green terraces.
Perspective INUI