Client: The town of Villiers le Bel
Design team: Dollé-Labbé (lead architect), D PAYSAGE (landscape architects), ETB Antonelli (infrastructure engineers), MDETC (quantity surveyors)
My role: Project Landscape architect (competition design to construction supervision)
Location: Villiers le Bel, France
Date: 2008-2015
Surface area: 6 850 m²
Budget: 8.3M € excl. VAT
Together with the architects we developed the overall master plan of this school project with its different exterior areas: the public esplanade that allows social intermingling after or before school hours, two school yards (one for the kinder garden and one for the primary school), the school garden and a central patio within the building. The esplanade has been designed around an existing mature cedar and planted sunken islands have been integrated to allow for rain water collection. The islands are accompanied by wall-benches at different heights to cater for all members of the public. The majority of the classrooms are equipped with an outside space separated by wooden pedestals from the main school yard. Multi-coloured graphic strips on the ground alternating with the linear wooden pedestals, form dynamic and playful settings for the schoolyards. The graphic elements and the height of the wooden elements are adapted to the two different age groups.