The architecture firms of LAN, Abinal & Ropars and Atelier Stéphane Fernandez deliver the new Polaris district in Nantes
This 1.5-hectare lot (3.70658 acres), facing the Loire River and the former site of the Brossette Company’s warehouses, is now home to six new, mixed-use buildings, one of which is a panoramic 18-story tower.
Polaris is the fruit of collaborative design effort with LAN originating the master plan and the main urban principles governing the development. They also were the lead architecture firm working with Abinal et Ropars and Atelier Stéphane Fernandez.
The new Skälby School and Preschool is a trefoil shaped building, set in souterrain. The building divides the outside space into three parts; a schoolyard, a smaller yard for the preschool and a fully accessible entrance and car park. The new school replaces a smaller school set at the site.
The school derives its character and identity from a warm and inspiring colour scheme that is present on the exterior as well as the interior; the colours of the building’s gables and windows are also found in the colours of the interior. The learning environment is designed to be stimulating, permissive and promote collaboration through its organization of space and attention to details. Acoustic panels and colourful soundproofing boards are important elements in the interior while at the same time contributing to an excellent acoustic environment. Skylights and intimate windowsills, deep enough to offer seating, provide a light and spacious atmosphere to the building. A generous number of windows and exits to the gables’ balconies provide visual contact with the surrounding greenery and the schoolyard’s vegetation continues up onto the sedum roof.
The educational environment must be a sort of aquarium where the ideas, the morality, the attitudes, the cultures of the people who live there are reflected.
Loris Malaguzzi
The enlargement of the Zanti Infant School in Brescello is born from the Administration's desire to bring together the sections currently located in various municipal offices into a single structure. The idea of the project is the reinterpretation of the stylistic features found in the children's drawings, where the landscape, the simplicity of the geometries and the sun, primary source of illumination and psychophysical well-being, are always represented in evidence. The archetype of the small house located in the green takes shape in two independent volumes, as the number of enlargement sections, with pure geometries and surrounded by the existing park. The sun exposure, the presence of numerous valuable trees and the desire to break down the least possible, generates the rotation of the volume of a section. The result is the creation of opposing overviews where the threshold between inside and outside is very weak.
The new Frits Philips lyceum-mavo school in Eindhoven was officially opened for the students and, a founding father of the lighting company located in Eindhoven, is an example for the school who teachers. Frits Philips stood for: effort, ambition and involvement. Values that the school strives for today. Therefore the school has been named after him. This was also a design principle for LIAG architects.
The Cadogan Song School was commissioned to complete the composition of buildings within the historical Treasury/ Cathedral precinct, and provide facilities for the St.George’s Cathedral choir. Located between St. George’s Cathedral, Burt Memorial Hall, Church House and the Deanery, the 200sqm Song School was designed to not only visually balance the composition of unique existing buildings, but allow full access throughout the site.
Consisting of a series of sculptural vaulted arches and a ‘tuning fork’ spire – a contemporary reference to the religious architectural language and defining lancet windows of the Cathedral – the scale and form of the vaults allows the eye to transition and understand the dialogue between old and new.
A few weeks ago, the Paris office of OPUS 5 delivered the new Élancourt Music School in Saint-Quentin en Yvelines, France.
The new Élancourt Music School has taken up residence in the former ecumenical center of the Sept Mares neighborhood, one of the focal points founding the new town of Saint-Quentin en Yvelines.
The building was originally a house of worship, a simple, without ornament and inward-looking construction owing to the peace and quiet required by its function. Philippe Deslandes built it between 1974 and 1977, with the desire that it embody the qualities of simplicity, modularity and anonymity.
In one fluent movement the bicycle route, park and school are joined together in a coherent infrastructure, building and landscape. The design challenges all the involved designers to intensly collaborate and clearly tune into each other.
The bicycle bridge, being positioned on the south side, creates space on the north side for a recreational area. The school and recreational area orientate towards the park. This is made possible by making the east side of the school, under the bridge, more narrow. The result is a private recreational area attached to the public park and an apparent, natural entrance in continuation of the street. The wide side of the school at the water complements the park and creates a safe enclosed space for the school children to play.
Team: Bart Reuser, Marijn Schenk, Michel Schreinemachers with Jurriaan Hillerström Tara Steenvoorden, Mark Jongerius (NEXT) and Rudy Uytenhaak, Karin Dorrepaal and Jonathan van Leuzen
IN Collaboration With: Rudy Uytenhaak Architectenbureau
Roosevelt High School is a diverse, historically rich campus located in the St. Johns neighborhood of North Portland. Home to approximately 1,700 students, the project was constructed in three phases and was planned and constructed while students remained on campus. The revitalized 17-acre campus consists of the original 1921 brick masonry structure, a 1930s auditorium, and three new additions. The project scope included 95,985-square-feet of building rehabilitation, 138,956-square-feet of new construction, and removal of 97,550-square-feet of outmoded structures.
Hayball has been working closely with Braemar College on a new campus Masterplan. Stage one involved the development of a new campus to provide a stand-alone Middle School for students in years 5-8.
The new campus celebrates education and social interaction, responds to the rural context while respecting distant views to surrounding natural landmarks. It addresses the challenges of the existing steeply sloped Macedon Campus: managing fire risk for its community, providing contemporary learning environments, and allowing equity of access to all spaces.
A dormitory was built as a residential school for 50 students from sub-Saharan Africa to prepare them for entering universities abroad. It is located in a rapidly urbanizing town, 13km from Kampala, the capital city of Uganda. It stands right on the equator but high above sea-level. The building is designed to respond, simply, to the climate, with tall walls positioned East-West to maximize shade, and large openings facing South and North – that bring wind and light deep into the rooms.
It comprised of classrooms, both male and female dormitories, staff quarters, a canteen, kitchen and also office for staff.