Wedoany.com Report on Feb 26th, The French architecture studio Tectoniques has recently completed the construction of the Dominique Frelaut school construction in the suburban commune of Colombes, Paris. The school construction's design is ingeniously conceived, featuring a series of stepped volumes that encircle a central courtyard, with green terraces crowning the top, creating a unique spatial experience for teachers and students.
The school construction spans 5,180 square meters across five floors, situated on a former industrial site. It is planned with 25 classrooms, with club rooms and a cafeteria on the top floor offering panoramic views of Paris. To maximize outdoor space, Tectoniques adopted a "vertical school construction" model, arranging the building in a tall, narrow U-shaped plan that embraces a central green courtyard.
In the school construction's construction, each wing's five floors of classrooms are stepped back as they rise, topped with planted terraces connected by steel and concrete staircases, creating a "cascading" effect down to the entrance. The central playground is sheltered by a first-floor walkway, supported on concrete columns, which connects the two wings and is designed as a "teaching garden" equipped with planters, adding vitality to the campus.
The studio explains that the school construction's form is clear and easily recognizable, being both grand and intimate, like a protective fence surrounding the playground. The staggered floors and diverse pathways forge a strong connection between the architecture and the landscape. External staircases cascade down to the courtyard, linking the various terraces and providing open-air routes to enjoy the city's panoramic views.
The school construction's façade facing the street is relatively closed off, clad in alternating flat and convex vertical bands of light-colored ceramic, inspired by the work of Alvar Aalto. Large windows at the base feature narrow metal planters, allowing daylight in; classroom windows face the courtyard and are protected by metal lattice canopies.
Inside the school construction, the timber and earth-brick structure is left exposed, with circulation areas kept in a raw state, while classrooms are softened with white-painted walls and built-in wooden storage. This design aims to help students understand the school construction's construction and operation, also leaving pipes, conduits, and other utilities exposed. The studio states that the bricks add character to the spaces and optimize inertia and humidity control; built-in furniture uses poplar plywood to soften the Brutalist style. The structural and utility networks are exposed for educational purposes.
Previously, Tectoniques employed a similar stepped form with green terraces in a school construction construction in Saint-Cyr-au-Mont-d'Or. Additionally, Le Penhuel & Associés used bio-based materials to create the 2,400-square-meter Simone Veil school construction group in the Paris suburbs.
