The new high school in Boulogne - Billancourt occupies a virtually triangular plot of land between Rue de Meudon and Traverse Jules Guesde. Its point is on Place Jules Guesde square, and the high party wall of an apartment building forms the third side at the bottom end of the plot. This emblematic public amenity of the town occupies a special location, at the junction between the old district of Boulogne - Billancourt and the new district developed on the site of the former Renault factory. We considered that this building should act as a link of transition between two urban worlds with very distinct characteristics: on one hand, Place Jules Guesde square and Rue de Meudon, which keep the atmosphere of the old neighbourhoods with their high buildings forming a continuous street frontage; on the other hand, on Traverse Jules Guesde, the modern city that is developing with its more scattered urban fabric as regards both its various heights and its architectural forms and styles.

Providing the physical and urban transition between the Boulogne of yesterday and that of today, we consider that the high school also assumes another transition, which is symbolic: the passage from the world of industry and assembly line production to that of new technology and the industries of the future. A symbolic remnant of the former factory, the imposing entrance façade of the former Renault factory becomes an essential part of this dual strategy for us, not as a relic to be preserved, but as a component that structures the urban and architectural project. Entirely integrated into the new building with which it forms one body, subtly modified but keeping its whole forcefulness, the façade of the gateway anchors the high school on the square and gives its stability to the whole building.Its symbolic role is just as important: this monumental gate through which so many workers passed will open tomorrow to throngs of students who are future engineers and technicians, on their way to classrooms and experiment laboratories.