This project rests on the rehabilitation, demolition and construction of buildings on an existing school site in the heart of a relatively dense urban environment.
While respecting the original spatial qualities of the nineteenth-century building, the new complex adapts to the school of today and anticipates future educational developments. Thus two foyers have been created. Various spaces are clustered around the first one, making it possible to develop ambitious and continuous educational projects for all school years: group workspaces, canteen, multipurpose rooms, relaxation areas, meeting areas, etc.
The second foyer, the hall, is a space that can be appropriated by the school and in parallel by the neighbourhood. It is a ‘dualitic’ construction where the school feeds the activities of the hall and the district influences the school’s educational teachings. It also provides access to the school’s outdoor areas outside school hours.
The constant search for a programmatic balance between the educational functions of all ages and the neighbourhood functions is a leitmotif that makes it possible to establish the Rabelais project in a sustainable way in the urban and social fabric.
