A large series of specific constraints acted directly on the project: the high level of the water table and the low ground bearing capacity leaded to a precise location of the project with adapted bedrocks. Besides, the historical context and the city regulation implied to limit the building height and to propose a smooth visual link to the neighborhood.
The new building is connected to the existing one on its edge offering the entrance hall to be at the crossroads of every people flow and creating a link between the market place at the East and the gardens on the opposite side.
The wide see-through entrance hall welcomes a monolithic concrete stair to reach all the levels of both the new and existing buildings. On the ground floor, the children have access to the shared part of the school: the multi-functional hall and the computer room.
All the classrooms are located in the upper levels as a cantilever over the cover yard. Inside as outside, the project is defined by a relationship between noble and raw materials: concrete, natural wood elements, woodfiber ceiling panels for inside, handmade bricks, wood panels and matt lacquered aluminium for the facades and natural zinc for the rooffing.
Two wide 30-meter-long skylight windows on the roof bring a very big amount of natural light into the building. It is also an easy way to ventilate naturaly the classrooms during the summer.
Benfeld Aristide Briand Primary School, Benfeld France
Program: school building
Architect: Lionel Debs Architecture
Project team: BGA
Structure engineering: Mcis
Mechanical engineering: Jost
Quantity surveior: Les économistes
Planning and organization: C2Bi
Cost: 2,850,000 €HT
Area: 1,500 sqm
Completion: 2015