Paul Éluard High School

This intervention therefore enables the school to enter a new phase in its development, improving both environmental performance and user comfort while renewing its architectural identity, all while remaining faithful to the original modernist spirit.

Shared by the eight buildings included in the project, the base unfolds from one volume to another like a continuous ribbon, following the existing geometries and enveloping both the administrative building and the entrance building housing the reception lodge. It serves as a foundation for the teaching and residential volumes, characterized by their horizontal lines and large expanses of glazing.

Constructed using elongated bonded bricks, it echoes the existing stone cladding of the forecourt while harmonizing with the surrounding landscape. By contrast, it highlights the lightness of the external connecting galleries and the covered playground canopy.

The consistent treatment of the window systems plays a key role in establishing a shared architectural language across the campus. On several buildings, the original continuous glazed bands are reinterpreted through the introduction of rendered solid spandrels, while the previously isolated window frames of Building T are visually regrouped into coherent compositions.

Combined with a restrained and legible intervention at the school entrance—remaining within the boundaries of the existing enclosure—this approach creates a renewed architectural identity that is unified, durable and clearly readable at the scale of the site.

This unifying approach helps clarify the overall reading of the campus. A white tone is applied consistently across the main façade surfaces, whether rendered, clad, finished with sandwich panels on the teaching buildings, or with translucent polycarbonate on the sports halls.

A light grey tone is used to highlight steel and pre-coated aluminium elements, including window frames, guardrails, canopies, roof overhangs, and the concrete slabs of the external galleries. This chromatic continuity simplifies the perception of the different volumes and reinforces the high school’s overall identity.

Accessible façades are treated consistently, with opening elements designed to provide clear passage in accordance with accessibility and safety requirements. Window restrictors can be overridden externally by emergency services, and solar-shading devices can be disengaged to facilitate maintenance operations. In Building G, the courtyard-facing stairwells benefit from a renewed architectural treatment: the existing lightweight façade is replaced with glazed curtain walls incorporating fixed sunshades, enhancing natural light, views across the campus, and visual connections with the courtyard.

The existing organisation of both internal and external circulation routes is maintained. The external galleries and covered playground canopy are refurbished to a high standard through the repainting of structural elements and the replacement of enclosure panels with light-coloured translucent components. The overall access and circulation strategy is preserved, including the existing fencing, the gatehouse security vestibule and open circulation routes, while entrance doors to the buildings are replaced and connected to the gatehouse access-control system.

Finally, interior environments are preserved wherever possible. Existing floor finishes are retained, suspended ceilings are adapted only where necessary, and finishing works are limited to technical areas associated with the installation of new equipment. Window frames and lighting fixtures are replaced to improve comfort and performance, following a measured approach that respects the existing fabric and prioritises the long-term durability of use.