A complex for 8 kindergarten groups, 12 primary school classes and one so-called. an adaptation class for "special" children appeared on the site of the former educational institution. Its area is almost 5500 m2, the cost is 27 million euros. The challenge for the architects was not only to create a comfortable and stimulating environment for children to learn, but also to make the building truly “sustainable” so that it could serve as a good example in teaching schoolchildren to respect the environment.
The school is located in the center of the block and is surrounded by a green area; in addition, the site is bordered by the former ring railway, which is now being transformed into a "linear" park. 420 m2 of facades and 700 m2 of the roof of the building are landscaped; during the construction, the trees that grew here were preserved, and the space of the schoolyard was significantly increased. As a result, according to Jean-François Schmitt, the area of "natural" elements has grown 2.5 times compared to the task of the competition for the project of the new school.
The facades of the building are sheathed with acacia wood, in the lower zone, individual blocks are decorated as "rocks": there are a library, a kitchen, a gallery for games, a first-aid post, etc. Solar collectors are installed on the gable part of the roof, providing the school with 39% of the hot water it needs. Untreated concrete surfaces brought out into the interior provide thermal inertia of the building, the orientation of the building, natural lighting and ventilation of the premises are also thought out.
There is a canopy and a "Zen garden" on the exploited roof. It is no coincidence that the school bears the name of the 16th century agronomist Olivier de Serra: children are taught gardening here, for which there is a greenhouse, a vegetable garden and fruit trees. The mayor of Paris, Anna Hidalgo, planted cherries there at the opening of the school.
In addition to the comfort of the environment and ecological elements, the new educational complex is also distinguished by the participation of schoolchildren in its design. The architects explained to them “the issues of urbanism”, and the children evaluated the five projects submitted for the competition, expressed their opinions during the development of the first prize-winning version (for example, at their request, a pond was saved, which seemed unsafe to adults), went on an excursion to the construction site.
