Julien Gracq high school

Building a welcoming place, open to the surrounding nature, not consuming more energy than it produces and displaying the values it defends, the stakes were high for this first high school of the « Mauges ». The project offers an original composition, hung on a sloping ground and embracing the morphology of the plot. In this bocage area, free of any construction, the buildings were worked in strips, staged in bands on an east-west axis along the contour lines to open the perspectives and benefit from the best sunshine. A glazed «inner street», protective, wide and bright, a real place of life, promotes exchanges and conviviality. It offers views of nature but also of the whole building, while serving as a bioclimatic space. It captures natural heat and light to better diffuse them in indoor spaces. Environmental ambition is reinforced by the compact size of the complex and the creation of a Canadian well, visible to all, not only for thermal purposes but also for educational purposes for student. The envelope and the larch wood interiors, the dry stone base and the vegetated roofs contribute to the well-being and anchor the building in its natural environment.