Rehabilitation & extension of the Jules Ferry schools complex

Our proposal for a minimalistic architectural style avoids the pitfall of disproportionate architectural expression, and offers an economy of resources which pays sustained tribute to the vernacular of existing structures, in combination with a decidedly contemporary approach.

The existing buildings have a strong identity, and are representative of a particular era. The same architectural expression has been deployed in the primary school and the nursery school, employing the same materials and the same structural grid. It therefore struck us as important to integrate the extension project in the same process which manifestly informed the design of the original buildings.

We have thus proposed the application of the same architectural language for the extension of the primary school, and for the extensions of the nursery school. We have thus expressed a strong commitment to the structural grid and the pattern of the concrete post and beam structure, forging a strong relational link between the new and the existing structure.

Posts with angled faces provide a straightforward facility for variations. Sometimes angled to the right, sometimes to the left, these variations generate a specific dynamic which will enliven façades and change the perception thereof by the viewer as they move around the buildings. While imitating the rigid and systematic configuration of existing structures, the new buildings will nevertheless deliver a changing and sensual architecture.

This minimalistic architectural style avoids the pitfall of disproportionate architectural expression, and offers an economy of resources which is in no way detrimental to the project. On the contrary, it pays sustained tribute to the systemic quality of the existing buildings, whilst expressing a decidedly contemporary approach.