The main entrance of the school is located in the north under the overhanging volume of the library. Visible from the rue de Savoye, it offers a generous covered forecourt for parents and children. Under this covered forecourt there are also bike racks.

The location of the lodge allows the control of visitors and students. The young children have a direct access from the covered outdoor area to the hall of the kindergarten.
The entrance of the elementary school is situated on the west and can be reached from the forecourt via a covered walkway along the building.

The building

The entire school building is surrounded by a corridor. This bright corridor with windows in different sizes, gives direct access to the classrooms and facilities. The corridor also provides an effective noise control for the exclusively to the courtyard orientated classrooms. All classrooms are extremely quiet and sunny thanks to their orientation.

The kindergarten

The kindergarten with its five classes is arranged on two floors and accessed via the entrance hall.
The common facilities for the day home, kindergarten and elementary school as computer science room, library, exercise room, music room and language laboratory can be reached by the pupils of each institution in a separated, short and clear way. The teachers already have confirmed that orientation in the building is extremely easy for the children.

The Elementary school

The school has 9 classes overall. 2 classrooms are situated on the ground floor, seven classrooms on the first floor. 3 classes are provided with a spacious terrace.

The canteen with attached self-service is used by the kindergarten and the elementary school and located between the two courts.

Interior

Throughout the school linoleum floors were laid. The classrooms vary in color from the common areas.
Each classroom has been equipped with acoustic panels and a wall filling board made of perforated aluminum with built-in absorbent material.
The school supplies are placed in a special built wooden closet in the classes.

Transitions

The corridors in front of the classrooms were equipped with a continuous wooden bench seat with integrated shoe rack as well as coat hooks.

Gym

The gym closes at the school complex in the south. Transparent polycarbonate panels ensure a covered access to the gym from the school and the kindergarten.

Facade

The facades are made of untreated pine slats. Through their cut and individually mounted alternated with glass surfaces, they produce the vibration of the facade.
In order to avoid a direct view from the opposite residential buildings, the facade of the day school has been intensified and conducted over the windows.
Along with the green roofs they form a unity and a strong contrast to the environment

Home of the caretaker

The 3 bedroom apartment of the caretaker is located on the 3rd floor and allows from the terrace the overlooking of the school grounds and a view to the Grande Arche at La Défense.

Parking

12 parking, available for the teachers and with a direct access to the building are situated
at -1.

Dietmar Feichtinger

The Simone de Beauvoir footbridge was designed by Dietmar Feichtinger.We talk with an architect who is as attentive to the natural as he is to the urban environment.

He designed the Simone de Beauvoir footbridge, won the European competition for the Mont Saint Michel pedestrian causeway bridge and was responsible for the footbridges at La Défense and over the Rhine, but Dietmar Feichtinger does not consider himself a bridge specialist. “I don’t like the term specialist. Our work covers a hospital, universities, office buildings, toll plazas and cinemas as well as bridges.” He does not prefer horizontal to vertical lines and adds that he is careful never to repeat himself. “I don’t to get into the habit of designing only office buildings, only bridges or anything else. Habit kills creativity.” Every location calls for its own project. Treating every projectas a new one fitting into a specific location is a good way of avoiding routine. This involves seeking a new solution every time, endeavoring to be highly modern, highly contemporary and above all avoiding stylistic precepts.

Every location, every natural landscape, every urban setting requires its own response. This can mean attracting attention, like the Simone de Beauvoir Footbridge, or blending into the landscape like he causeway bridge at the Mont Saint Michel Bay. The design of his bridges thus varies considerably. But relationships and analogies can be found with other–at firsglance quite different–structures. The causeway bridge, for example, bears a resemblance to the Klagenfurth hospital, of which a scalemodel takes up half the office where we are talking with Dietmar Feichtinger. “In both projects, the direct connection tonature was important to us.”

All-revealing architecture

Everywhere – if it’s in Paris or the Mont Saint Michel Bay – Dietmar Feichtinger focuses primarily on fitting his projects into their setting. This, he strongly believes, is the fundamental of architecture, a guiding principle rather than an obstacle, and he pays close attention to the structure of his work.“The bones of the building, that is what every architect should be interested in.” His bridges are, in that sense, a stylistic exercise: “This is all-revealing architecture, you can conceal nothing. It is the basic. principles that make the project.”

Brief biography

Dietmar Feichtinger a native of Austria, studied architecture at the Technical University of Graz. He moved to Paris in 1989 and established Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes in 1993. With a thirty of employees between Paris and Vienna the team operates mainly in Europe. DFA has built a strong reputation for its inventive structures and its investigative approach to design. Its work links both architecture and engineering whilst exploring the dynamic between these two disciplines. In a constant strive DFA is looking for integration environmental and sustainable development, in a elegant and sensitive architecture, respectful of nature and humans. Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes is internationally honored with architecture awards and publications for excellence in design and their built projects. www.feichtingerarchitectes.com/

Data sheet

Project: Groupe scolaire Lucie Aubrac
Address: Allée de Bourgogne, Nanterre
Bauherr Client: Mairie de Nanterre
98 à 118 Rue du 8 Mai 1945
F – 92014 Nanterre Cedex
Contact : Mme Marie-Hélène GAYET, M Gilles RAGNETTI
Tél. : 01.47.29.53.37
Architecte:
Dietmar Feichtinger Architectes
Architekt Dipl.Ing. Dietmar Feichtinger
11, rue des Vignoles, 75020 Paris
Project team leader: DI Katja Pargger
Team planning: Mathias Neveling, Anna Zottl, An Vranken, Markus Himmel, Jeanne Stern, Maria Joao Pita
Team Competition: DI Katja Pargger, chef de projet;
Barbara Fellmann, DI Dorit Boehme, Petra Meisenbichler
Bet
BET
Structural consultant: INGEROP
168 – 174, bd de Verdun, F – 92408 Courbevoie
HQE: Oasiis
672, avenue de la Fleuride, F-13685 Aubagne Cedex
BET ACOUSTIQUE : Peutz & Associés
10 rue des Messageries, 75010 Paris
BUREAU DE CONTROLE: APAVE
14 Chaussée J. César BP 235, 95523 Cergy-Pontoise Cx
COORDONNATEUR SPS: QUALICONSULT
12 rue des Peupliers, 92014 Nanterre
ETUDES GEOTECHNIQUES: GEOLIA
3 rue des Clotais, 91160 Champlan-Longjumeau
COORDONNATEUR OPC: MEL
4 villa des passe-crassane, 95390 Saint-Prix
Surfaces
Surface parcelle: 7 116 m²
Surface hors oeuvre nette: 4 620 m²
Emprise au sol: 2 713 m²