Claude Bernard School in Paris. France

Designing a nursery school and primary school together means giving ourselves the opportunity not only to achieve a high degree of functional and practical flexibility, but also to soften the trauma usually associated with moving up to a new school.

Placing 3- to 11-year-olds in such close proximity means establishing a sense of continuity but also of separation, given the way the day has to be organized for children of different ages, with their varying energy levels and motor skills. The lot forms part of the Claude Bernard priority development zone (ZAC), between the Paris ring road and the Boulevard Macdonald.

Despite the surface area of the lot, its location near the canal provides very interesting poetic potential. In order for the children to benefit fully from the location and enjoy the views, we have created two frontages, one facing north and the other south.

Along the Boulevard Macdonald, a three-storey block forms a screen that protects the playground, reduces noise pollution, and provides a sense of depth when you stand on the front courtyard and look through the foyer to the playground. On the south side there is a lower block adjoining the offices that looks inwards.

Between the two is a raised, transparent bridging structure overlooking the canal that leads the eye from the playground to the other side of the canal and filters the traffic noise from the ring road.

HOW IT WORKS: CONTINUITY AND DISCONTINUITY

To provide the best response possible to the question of cohabitation between the primary school and the nursery school, we thought it was appropriate to separate them into two streams beginning in the foyer; the junior pupils go straight into the playground or the surrounding covered gallery, while the infants are taken into their section by their parents.

The classrooms, all in the east wing, form a kind of suspended block: nursery pupils are on the first floor, primary pupils on the second. The younger pupils have direct access to the playground via a stairway on the north side; this avoids having to cross the older children’s play area.

This arrangement has made it possible to create two playgrounds making maximum use of the available surface area, and two covered galleries under the «bridge»; this creates a sense of openness and transparency, with views of the planted esplanade to the west and a framed canal overlook to the east.