Adeline Boutain High School

This building, intended to host a public polyvalent high school with a general course, vocational courses and a boarding school of excellence was designed in dialogue with the sea and the city.

Its architecture is inspired by that of three boats moored at the dock, with polished concrete passageways and facades made up of large bentwood ribs evoking the hulls of ships. The three buildings fan out over the entire width of the plot like a trident. The forecourt was conceived as a home base, a point of convergence, meeting and exchange. The white zinc roof, dedicated to the bioclimatic space, evokes the ship’s mainsails. The 7-meter cantilevered Resource Centre, supported by large wooden beams, is part of a double suspended volume that is symbolically projected into the public space, opens up to the sea and communicates with the outside world.
The spatial and functional organisation of the building promotes vocational education by placing it at the heart of the establishment. The workshops, glazed, bathed in lights, open to the high school and visible to all, encourage a versatile operation. They foster exchanges and mutual enrichment between general education and vocational courses. They are also visible from the forecourt through the hall and an inner garden known as the «dune garden» but also from the departmental road. In this rapidly developing area, the building offers a subtle interplay of transparencies between inside and outside. In this developing neighborhood, the building offers a subtle play of transparency effects between inside and outside. From the forecourt, thanks to the bay windows, the gaze penetrates the heart of the establishment. From the forecourt, thanks to the bay windows, the eye goes through the heart of the establishment. The trident location allows to develop between the buildings beautiful planted spaces that offer perspectives on the surrounding landscape and on the future sports equipment. From the public space, pedestrians enjoy beautiful views of the interior of the islet and the activities that take place there. A frugal and energy-efficient building serving a strong environmental ambition that has been the subject of HEQ certification, a bio-based and Effinergie+ building label.