Architects:Tectoniques Architects

Area:8248m²

Year:2025

Photographs:Maxime Verret

Structural Engineeing:Tectoniques Ingénieurs

Landscape Design:Atelier du Bocal

Environmental Quality:eEgenie

Acoustics:Dbvib

Category:Educational Architecture,Elementary & Middle School,Refurbishment

Lead Architect Office:Tectoniques

Associate Structural Engineer:Charley Damont

Associate Architects:Lucas Jollivet, Clément Lebourgeois, Robert Weitz

Associate Economist:Mayeul Mounaud

Administrative Assistant:Mélanie Janaud

Office Manager:Isabelle Muzyczka

Administrative And Financial Director:Cécile Zurano

Architect Team:Solenn Augé, Loris Bied, Thomas Blot, Willy Caraman, Violaine Charlot, Léo-Paul Chorel, Rémi Davallet Pin, Thomas Delaire, Pablo Giovanni, Étienne Girard, Justine Goussard, Vanille Josephine, Alexandre Jozan, Manon Jusselin, Marie Le Pechon, Lucas Lebel, Anne Levallois, Lisa Louison, Claire Mallet, Elise Marcel, Tiziana Minchella, Lucie Petit, Amélie Pontet, Florent Quintard, Lucie Rossignol, Raphaëlle Ruiz, Nicolas Serreli, Michelle Trarbach, Laure Villedieu

Structural Engineers:Elsa Alaux, Aymeric Broyet, Romain Guinard, Simon Hanisch, Étienne Louis, Paul- Émile Rinaudo, Marianne Schroeder, Nibras Zara

Economics Engineers:Pablo Cancade, Marie-Orianna Claerr, Pierre Da Cruz, Patrice Feuga

Fluids Engineers:Olivier Balmain, Gauthier Capet, Julien Herbo, Clément Risse, Philippe Talet

Environmental Building Quality:Pierrick Durand-Glouchkoff, Clémence Magnière, Hélène Thieblemont

Building Contractors:Benjamin Burq, Rémi Morin

Economics Engineering:Tectoniques Ingénieurs

Fluids Engineering:Tectoniques Ingénieurs

Wood Structures:Arborescence

Kitchen Designer:Pimant

Site Infrastructure:Laurent Buttin Concept

City:Dole

Country:France

Text description provided by the architects. Built in 1974 by Jouven and Phelouzat (who also designed the neighboring hospital), the existing college is located on the south-western outskirts of the city center, in a suburban fabric that combines facilities, business parks, multi-family housing, and single-family dwellings. It is made up of several buildings arranged in an orthogonal system with no relationship to their surroundings. This functionalist architecture, poorly maintained, is now in a state of disrepair. The fragmentation of the buildings and successive additions have rendered the whole complex illegible and dysfunctional. The existing college is symptomatic of an ordinary heritage dating back to the 1970s, which has largely fallen into disrepute. Its transformation is now a necessity to meet contemporary environmental challenges. This implies taking a fresh look at it, as a heritage to be taken care of, an available resource rather than a clean slate. In addition to bringing the building up to standard and renovating its heating system, the project aims to clarify the formal and programmatic layout of the entire site in order to relieve congestion at the 550-student school, while increasing its capacity to 600. The project strategy must also take into account the need for a construction site on an occupied site, and therefore for phasing.

Tectonique's approach is to make the right diagnosis without preconceptions. It's a question of working with, repairing, and revealing the qualities of what's already there, in this case, the rationality of the constructive system that enables the structure's adaptability. The new image is thus a result, not an assumption. The intervention seeks to relieve the complexity inherited from the existing situation, in order to offer optimal operation over the long term. This is achieved through the simplicity and straightforwardness of the architectural and constructive features. First, the multiple additions are eliminated. The extension then extends the existing building using the same system, to the east to add a teaching block and half-board facilities, and to the west to reconnect the SEGPA section, which was previously isolated. The volume is also raised by one floor to create additional classrooms. This reconfiguration establishes a hierarchy between the previously very equivalent buildings, creating a more homogeneous and coherent whole.

The courtyard has been relocated to the south, on the side facing the town, which is served by a new forecourt with a canopy that doubles as a bicycle storage area. The entrance hall has been repositioned along the axis, at the barycentre of the plan, redefining a clear sequence from the public space. It opens onto a vast atrium with a monumental stepped staircase leading directly to the Culture and Knowledge Centre in its northern extension (in phase 3). This space redefines the centrality of this fragmented complex. It acts as a ball-and-socket joint between the various wings, providing better orientation within the building thanks to its openness to the landscape and its height. The exposed structure reveals the juxtaposition of different construction periods. The existing building is constructed using a "Stribick" prefabrication process, based on concrete floor caissons previously concealed beneath a false ceiling. These caissons are sandblasted. Revealing this structure characterizes the ambience, improves inertia, and makes the building's construction intelligible. The existing framework is envisaged as a generating system for the extension. The new parts reinterpret the coffered floors, using a timber solution of identical proportions. This relationship between the two construction methods blurs the distinction between old and new.

The project is based on an ambitious environmental approach that favors the use of local resources, whether through the massive use of Jura wood (640 m3) or the valorization of local know-how. Previously rightly described as a "thermal sieve", the building envelope has been considerably improved thanks to external thermal insulation using wood wool. Timber construction, which is largely prefabricated and minimizes nuisance, is also an appropriate response to the problem of a phased construction site on an occupied site. The facades are clad with green standing seam aluminum cassettes, evocative of Jura metal gables and the forest character of the region. The south-facing facade is enhanced by large sunshades suspended from a slender metal structure. These overhangs protect the facades and shelter the exterior longitudinal walkway. The composition of horizontal bands alternates aluminum and wood cladding, interspersed with wide windows. This new envelope unifies the existing and the new.

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