Bailly High School

Rue du Bailly, Saint-Denis, France

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Bailly High School

Rue du Bailly, Saint-Denis, France

Type

Educational › Elementary School

YEAR

2009

SIZE

300,000 sqft - 500,000 sqft

BUDGET

$10M - 50M

The
school complex of Bailly is situated on a changing territory and is located on
the starting point of the reconstruction of the scale of the district. The
expression of the project is inspired by this specific context of the material
used – glazed brick – and by the idea of the roof which give reference to the
lanterns of the cathedrals.
The
school complex is aligned on the rue de Bailly like a “building wall” on one
level which grows hollow and inflects to form the esplanade for the entrance.
The esplanade is designed like a space of hospitality, protected and
covered by a playful light shelter. Its base of brick is extended in the
building by an internal brick street which functions as an interspace area to
access both schools, the recreation centre and at the same time serve like the
connection area for the various functions.
The body of the building seen from the rue de Bailly shows a glazed
screen printed façade to protect the intimacy of the children, giving the
possibility for transparency in the interior gardens and under the coloured
ceiling.
The classrooms are organised in the north-south transverse on two levels
which end on the firewall on the side of the railway. They are structured by
horizontal circulations and interior gardens protected by noise by a glass
screen.
This
configuration makes it possible to limit the façade exposed direct to the noise
and to create independent units emphasised by the green transparency for the
preschool, the recreational centre and the elementary school which are
connected between them by an interior street open towards the forecourt.
In this
constellation, the preschool and the elementary school yard are located
sidewards in contrast to the units for the teachers. Placed on the north and
south end of the site, they are protected by noise and acoustic screen made up
of circular tubes of different densities from the west which also absorb the
noise during the recreation.
Each
schoolyard is extended visually one level higher by the garden, accessible by a
ramp connected from the schoolyard. These gardens, important for the class
rooms on the higher levels, bring freshness to the project and enable the
children to get fresh air between the lessons and to connect with the
schoolyard while walking on the protected and planted way.
The
school complex of Bailly is on a site which is under the development of Plaine
Commune who want it to be the initiator for the reorganisation for the district
along the rue de Bailly.
Being a
building on two levels, its roof will be apprehended as a pedestrian scale
because of the surrounding high buildings. The roof therefore is designed like
a crucial factor of the project; it is the fifth façade seen from the rue de
Bailly by the children like a bright coloured pallet, visible from the
surrounding high buildings in the shape of thin straps of vegetation cut in the
sheds.