Cantine scolaire
As part of the long-term timeline of an urban renewal project, the new canteen responds to the school’s immediate needs while anticipating its future development.
Located in the heart of the block, at the end of the school complex and its pedestrian path, the site—previously occupied by a public sports court—is also directly accessible from the street, opening up the possibility of extending the use of the building beyond its original school function. On this relatively compact plot, the desire to multiply uses, extend the building’s hours of use, and open it to different publics led us to conceive the roof as a new ground plane capable of accommodating additional activities. It now includes the former sports court and a planted roof with an educational vegetable garden.
The entire mixed timber-and-steel structure is dimensioned to support a future vertical extension over the building footprint in response to possible programmatic needs. Circulation issues have already been anticipated through generous vertical circulation leading to the upper level, while the presence of columns surrounding the upper courtyard suggests a building ready to accommodate future uses. In both its current phase and its potential future development, the building completes a school-related urban sequence organized around the playground and begins to articulate with the surrounding residential scale.
The structural grid organizes the façade of the two dining halls in timber construction. The repetition and rationality of these façades allow for varied interior atmospheres, from the elementary school dining hall, directly connected to the playground, to the kindergarten dining hall, surrounded by greenery.
The arrangement of the rooms allows for simultaneous or independent occupation of part or all of the building by different users (elementary school, kindergarten, upper courtyard on the first floor). Organized around the existing large oak tree, the three public entrances open into a shared hall that can easily be subdivided using two sliding timber partitions. In addition to the original program, the possibility of opening the spaces separately has made it possible to extend the use of the kindergarten dining hall as an event hall outside school hours.
The dining halls, open on three sides and naturally cross-ventilated, are designed to adapt to evolving spatial practices without compromising the quality of their initial configurations. The post-and-beam structural system frees the interior space and allows for future reconfiguration according to changing needs, particularly for a possible conversion into after-school facilities.
Through a legible structure within the dining halls, with timber columns and timber-steel beams, a didactic approach expressed by a “truth window” revealing the straw infill of the timber-frame walls, and the sensory richness of wood used throughout the interior fittings, the new canteen offers a privileged setting for children’s environmental awareness and ecological education.
