Text description provided by the architects. The Louise Michel nursery and primary school is an emblematic feature of the urban renewal scheme for the Aubiers “priority” district in Bordeaux, characterized by 1970s apartment blocks. We have worked to design a facility that would help to positively redefine the image of the area and sustainably improve the living environment for local residents.
The project creates a dialogue between the different scales and reconnects the area with the rest of the city, opening up connections to the west and south. Designed as a “school-park”, it mixes the inside and the outside through landscape-oriented architecture where greenery plays a key role and becomes a defining element. The L-shaped layout along the northern and western boundaries of the plot creates a landscaped perspective providing as much sunlight as possible into the playgrounds and indoor spaces of the school.
All around the plot, an array of planted embankments hugging the slope of the terrain serves as the base for the building. These rises form a natural separation between public space and the classrooms and playgrounds. The plantings continue along all the facades of the building, on the ground floor, the upper level and even the roof, which is treated as a ‘fifth facade,’ providing all the areas of the school with a green foreground. The project’s aesthetic is assertively mineral and its language very horizontal, accentuated by the wide roof overhang providing protection from the sun and sheltering the forecourt. The school’s glass façade fits under this overhang, with vertical spines echoing its rhythmic pattern. On the playground side, the planted banks and overhang give way to a full-height open façade punctuated by columns and sheltered by a slatted concrete awning.
The ground floor and first floor rise in stepped formation. The ground-level west wing of the building houses the nursery school and opens onto the playground. Its planted roof, defined by a pattern of mounds and topographical features that create differentiated spaces laid out playfully, offers students a real garden near the primary school classrooms. The north wing is on two levels. The ground floor houses part of the nursery school, the canteen and the administrative, multi-use and extracurricular areas of the primary school, while the upper level houses the primary school classrooms. The interior spaces are arranged around two patios which bring in natural sunlight and brighten the circulation areas. Each school has its playground, dotted with trees, plants, cork-floored play areas and benches. Special care has been taken over the design of the boundary between the two playgrounds. Treated as a continuation of the general landscaping, it features a series of planted mounds forming a green noise-filtering screen.
Designed with energy efficiency, scalability and carbon footprint firmly in mind, the school complex is labelled E+C- level E3C1 and reached level 1 of the « Biosourced Building » French label. Bio-based materials, particularly wood, were used whenever possible (wood fibre ceilings, wood wool insulation, linoleum flooring, wooden interior doors, furniture and cladding, and play areas made of cork) and 230 solar panels on the roof provide renewable energy. Anticipating future changes, the floor plan and partitions as well as the overall structure and façades have been designed to ensure the durability, flexibility and scalability of the building. With this in mind, we opted for a concrete post-and-beam system which has the advantage of providing open-plan, modular interior spaces.
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Project location
Address:Bordeaux, France
Location to be used only as a reference. It could indicate city/country but not exact address.
About this office
Cite: “Louise Michel School Complex / Marjan Hessamfar & Joe Vérons architectes associés” 05 Mar 2025. ArchDaily. Accessed .
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