The school unit is part of Montpellier’s dynamic for development, the aim being to connect the city with the sea. The school is set on a small triangular plot of land, in keeping with the urban policy for densifying a new residential area.

The ground floor is taken up by the nursery school and the centre for before- and after-school activities. The primary school occupies the other two floors, with its playground on top of the nursery school. The volumes are designed as autonomous elements which appear to slide over each other, with their cantilevering providing covering for sections of the playground. Each volume is in a different colour or material. The bays have been designed according to their orientation and the level of light required.

Transit routes receive natural lighting from the patios and tall openings. The first-floor classrooms can be accessed directly from the playground, without having to pass through the rest of the building. 

The classrooms are open at either end, and hence face both north and south. This produces ideal lighting conditions, as well as natural cooling by the passage of air through the classrooms from one end to the other.

Project Information:

André Malraux’s group of schools in Montpellier

Client : Ville de Montpellier

Architect : Dominique Coulon & associés
Dominique Coulon, Steve Letho Duclos
Architects assistants : Fanny Liénart, Olivier Poulat
Construction site supervision : Steve Letho Duclos, Olivier Poulat

Engineers and consultants :
Structural Engineer : Batiserf Ingénierie
Mechanical Plumbing Engineer : Solares Bauen
Electrical Engineer : BET G.Jost
Cost Estimator : E3 économie
Acoustics : Euro sound project
Landscape : Bruno Kubler

Program :
Nursery school / Elementary school / Day nursery / Dinning room

Address :  89 Avenue Joan Miro 34 000 Montpellier / Localisation GPS : 43.602079, 3.907441

Surface : 3444 sqm
Budget : 7 300 000 € H.T

Schedule :
Competition : Mars 2012
Plans and technical phases : from march 2012 to march 2014
Construction : from march 2014 to september 2015

Construction companies :
Structure, Earthworks, sewerage networks and road works (BEC Construction), special foundations, poles (Franki Fondations), Metal structure (CIM Massol), water proofing roofing (Soprema), exterior joinery (Mistral fenêtres), exterior isolation (Iso Therm Habitat), metalworks (Serrurerie Delmas), exteriorworks (Colas), green areas (Pousse Clanet), wood interior joinery (Ducrot), plastering (Société Frontignanaise de plâtrerie), glued floors (SPC), tiled floors (Art et Technique du Bâtiment), painting (Entreprise Languedoc Chantier), Elevator (CFA Compagnie Française d’Ascenseurs), electricity (SPIE Sud Ouest), heating, ventilation, plombing and drainage (Temperia).

Photography :
©Eugeni Pons, Photographer