Self-regulating & Sheltered – Secondary School at Le Bourget, France

By Anuradha K.R.

Photography: Abbadie; courtesy Hubert & Roy Architects & Associates

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Hubert and Roy Architects and Associates weave sustainability into a simplistic wooded envelope, through the renovation of a Secondary School in Le Bourget, France. 

The school has gone in for complete renovation and accommodates 665 students with 30 classrooms, Documentation and Information Centre, Conference Room, Cafeteria and 6 Staff Housing Units in an area spanning 8400 sq. m.  The project completed recently, has drawn on the expertise of a bunch of engineering/design/HSE consultants, acoustic/landscape designers and digital imaging professionals assisting the architects in their committed task. 

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What appears simple at first glance, is actually an assemblage of wooden structural extensions on brick ensemble presenting a flawless fusion, imbuing the structure with subtle contrasts in terms of colours, style and utility. Glass encasement for the wooden structure provides a striking contrast of vibrancy and sobriety.

 

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A courtyard, with a wooden canopy does the trick of ‘unifying’the existing blocks. Chequered pattern of the canopy, with skylights dotting its spread, gives a simple, yet majestic feel to the ambience. A gardened trough at the base of the courtyard ensures ample supply of natural light to the underground level at -5m. A glass-lined passageway/staircase, flooded with natural light, linking the reception area on the ground floor with the library below, runs all along the border of this gardened trough.

The building adheres to HQE (Haute QualitéEnvironnementale) norms, a standard for green buildings in France, with a rating of Ubât-20% and Créf-20%. Use of urban windmills for outdoor lighting, solar chimneys for natural ventilation, solar panels for domestic water heating and rainwater harvesting for irrigation are some of the ‘sustainability’ features incorporated in the building. They also go a long way in inculcating ‘green culture’ at an impressionable age amongst students, who happen to be the end-users of the building.