ARCHITECTURAL AND URBAN POSITION
In the residential neighborhood of the Petit-Clamart, this ambitious project includes schools (two elementary schools and two nursery schools) and large sports complex (dojo, gymnasium, tennis courts, and circulation area). The broad trapezium-shaped terrain extends over 5 hectares and offers the opportunity to reconcile two areas, two period urban fabrics based on very different conceptions.
On the south side, the neighborhood of single-family homes spreads out over relatively small city blocks, presenting a soft and repetitive scale. On the north side, a vast neighborhood of social housing rises from a large-scale covered collective space, in a uniform alignment of imposing towers.
Between these two antagonistic cityscapes, the scale of the intervention creates a link through architecture that pacifies their discordant relation, creating three transversal accesses, one of which is a central pedestrian street serving the sports facility and the schools.
PROGRAM
The campus site is comprised of two main units: the sports complex, under a vast and unique metal envelope; and the school complex, protected by a landscaped plaza, and which is composed of four schools and their shared areas – lunchroom, recreation areas, a cultural center, and a multi-purpose hall with a separate entrance.
SCHOOLS
Four schools, mainly on the ground floor, are spread out under a vast green roof, in an inaccessible area but whose calming presence can be viewed and appreciated by all. This semi-intensive green roof, planted as a "flowering prairie," also ensures excellent thermal insulation, hygrometric comfort, as well as optimal retention of rain water, thereby reducing runoff from the lot. Main bearings on this large site consist of volumes cut through this vast ensemble, emerging from the large green cover, creating occasional double height areas, areas of respiration, and openings toward the sky while also signaling the particular elements of the program located on the first floor.
SPORTS COMPLEX
The sports complex is a landscape/building composed of supple curves. Iimagined as a genuine sports city, its undulating standing seam aluminum envelope also meets the strict technical and aesthetic requirements for design. Touching the ground on its north and south façades, it protects the urban environment from noise pollution.
TIMBER STRUCTURE
The geometric complexity of the structure and the roof present interesting technical challenges. These led the architects to make the ambitious and original choice of utilizing cross-laminated timber for the roof's complex wide span framework, thereby offering the possibility of making large-scale curved box girders.
The framework obtained with these large-scale girders creates a cover of approximately 40m x 100m extending from north to south, and joining the ground at either end where the roof gradually becomes the façade.
LANDSCAPED CAMPUS
The soft and supple outline of the campus creates a new and calm landscape open to its environment. The site as a whole expresses the qualities of a program that organizes shared spaces and shared uses. Thanks to its urban, social and educative characteristics, the program aims to enhance the well-being of the inhabitants of the neighborhood.
FICHE TECHNIQUE
CLIENT: City of Clamart
PROJECT MANAGEMENT TEAM:
Architects:
Gaëtan LE PENHUEL / Gaëtan MORALES / Cristina FERNANDEZ / Laetitia BIABAUT
JOINT PRIME CONTRACTORS:
VSA (Skins and structure) / FACEA (Framework and utilities) / ATSL (Landscape architects) / ICTEC (Economist) / RFR ELEMENTS (HQE) / SPOOMS (Kitchen design and installation) / GENERAL ACOUSTICS
Contractors:
Structural work – Covered enclosure- Technical systems: LEON GROSSE /
Structure and envelopes: POULINGUE / Cooking facilities: FC2P / Outdoor layout: WATELET TP
Trapèze géant de près de 5 hectares, le terrain d’accueil du campus scolaire et sportif du Petit-Clamart vient s’interposer entre deux paysages antagonistes de la ville. Au sud, un parcellaire pavillonnaire hétéroclite, au nord, un alignement uniforme de tours massives de logements sociaux. Celles-ci, hautes de sept à douze étages, se dressent à la lisière d’une grande cité-jardin construite dans les années soixante. Le vaste terrain de l’opération est l’occasion de pacifier des tissus urbains autistes l’un à l’autre et donne suffisamment d’espace pour réconcilier les deux territoires. Pour en suturer les rives, trois axes de circulation transversaux sont créés, dont une rue piétonne centrale qui dessert l’équipement sportif et les établissements scolaires, pour moitié élémentaires et maternels.
Les quatre écoles, principalement en rez-de-chaussée, sont nichées sous un vaste tapis de verdure offrant à la vue des habitants un square surélevé inaccessible, mais cependant unificateur. Pour se repérer dans ce vaste ensemble, des volumes transpercent et émergent de la large plaque végétale, créant des doubles hauteurs ponctuelles, des respirations, des ouvertures vers le ciel tout en signalant les éléments particuliers du programmes situés au premier étage. Le complexe sportif est lui aussi fédéré sous une unique et gigantesque enveloppe. Tour à tour dilaté, creusé ou courbé, comme déformé par la présence de ses multiples fonctions – dojo, gymnase, aire d’évolution, terrain de tennis –, le bâtiment n’a cependant rien d’un monolithe. Cet aimable diplodocus est structuré par un squelette de poutres lamibois à plis croisés, de très grande portée. Sa peau de métal évoque un plissé d’Issey Miyake ajusté selon un patron impeccablement coupé. L’ensemble, écoles et bâtiment sportif, tout en courbes souples et vallonnées, crée un nouveau paysage artificiel paisible incarnant l’ambition d’un environnement urbain, social et éducatif partagé, propice au bien-être de ses usagers.