Anton Makarenko Elementary School

Ivry-sur-Seine, France

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Anton Makarenko Elementary School

Ivry-sur-Seine, France

Firm

AIR architectures

Type

Educational › Elementary School

STATUS

Built

YEAR

2018

SIZE

25,000 sqft - 100,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

AIR Architectures (Cyrille Hanappe - Olivier Leclercq) delivered to Ivry-sur-Seine (Val-de-Marne) the extension of the Anton Makarenko Elementary School and the partial redevelopment of existing buildings for 825 pupils. One of the challenges of the Anton Makarenko school's extension program was to put public schools back in the heart of civic life in Ivry-sur-Seine, and to connect this 50’s housing project’s school to the rest of the neighborhood: a gamble ambitious for a 3,000 m² program.

AIR Architectures studio therefore imagined a project where the new school fence, which crosses the Pierre and Marie Curie block from rue Jean Le Galleu to rue Hoche, is both an emblematic landmark, a link, presence and urban continuity.

The new building, clearly visible from all streets around thanks to its warm and sunny color, diffuses its good vibes along the entire length of its facade, which is declined into a fence around the pre-existing school. This fence is made up of 4 kind of aluminum tubes cleverly combined to create an illusion of randomness, and totalizing approximately 7000 pieces.

To illustrate this concept of facade, AIR Architectures took the image of a clementine whose protective and enveloping skin would come off and unfold around the existing school buildings.