Town of Saint-Denis
The architectural heritage of Seine-Saint-Denis is rich and varied: buildings characteristic of the 20th century’s various architectural movements mingle with the polychrome brick and millstone grit constructions typical of the late 19th century. The town of St-Denis also boasts magnificent 12th century gothic style monuments, such as its basilica, and remarkable contemporary constructions such as the Stade de France or the industrial buildings of the Aubervilliers shopping centre. While industrial buildings were not always celebrated when they were brought into service, today they are real symbols of modernity which we wish to preserve in order to better display them. The idea of heritage corresponds to the need for a connection; it is a relationship with the past, in the present and for the future.
What could be more ambitious than to reveal it to the local population and to children through a sensitive approach which makes it relevant? The challenge has been to reinterpret this whole in an allegorical fusion which marries architectural heritage and social memory. The richness of our industrial buildings and the spaces which emerge from them lose themselves in the collective memory. We set out to restore this iconography and lend it a contemporary significance.
The project, whose structure and finishing elements are all made of wood, demonstrates a real commitment to a mature vision, using elegant and sustainable materials.
It fits into the site, lending a strong identity to each programme:
- the ECO school building
- the HAL catering + gym building
- The BAG building to access the gym
- the LOG building, the caretaker’s accommodation with independent access
The different buildings are linked by a set of footbridges.
The main ECO building is an R+2 wooden building (structure / cladding). Built in a U shape on the North side of the site (Rue Cristino-Garcia), it houses the pre-school and primary school. On the East side of the building, to avoid stifling its existing surroundings, its wooden body folds into plane like a rhizome, providing a view of the brick chimney from rue Henri-Murger. The chimney has been restored to its original state and opens onto the town, serving as a vertical reference point.
Opposite the ECO building, the HAL building is based on the same principles as the school (a wooden framework on a cement base), with an attached laminated bracing forming a decorative mesh over the upper section.
The building presents two large superimposed volumes. The first, on the ground floor, is an outside sheltered space, in the style of old-fashioned covered markets, which house smaller single-storey structures where the school’s dining halls are located. This collection of volumes is dressed in a wooden exterior reminiscent of the ECO building.
Two spaces emerge on the ECO building’s roof terrace, a non-accessible garden area and a walking space with oak decking (same species as the walkways).
The second volume, one floor up, which houses the sports centre, offers particularly high ceilings (at least 7 metres). The sports facilities are made of polycarbonate (nanogel process for thermal insulation). Only a 2.10 metre full base (double layer steel cladding with thermal and acoustic insulation) is planned; it will run around the entire gym to complete the acoustic absorption provided by the ceiling and protect the facades from the shock of balls. This peripheral belt has an openwork wooden interior cladding like the canteen spaces on the ground floor. The HAL building is covered with solar panels.
 Two structures mark out the corners of the site. To the West, in line with the ECO building, stands the LOG (R+1) building which houses the caretaker and features a wooden structure and cladding. To the East, the BAG building is an extension of the covered space, linked to it by a lower passageway. The BAG has a wooden structure made of porticoes which seem to be woven into the HAL building, with double-layer steelclad volumes superimposed within them. It houses the logistical facilities needed for the sports centre, including changing rooms on the floors and a CTA in the roof.
the MeTaL “MeSH”
A base made of gold-tinted perforated metal cases surrounds the site and completely envelopes the two large HAL and BAG building volumes, lending them a shared aesthetic. Only the HAL building base, at the Landy forecourt level, differs as it is made of a simple glass panel wall-curtain (with a laminated steel frame) to provide a visual connection to the public space. The metal mesh plays with double perforations and outlines motifs suggesting brick and the wireframe character of the steel structures, in memory of the industrial architecture which previously defined the site. The density of the mesh will vary in line with the requirements imposed by regulations and considerations relating to the building’s heating and lighting.
the WOODEN CLaDDING
Echoes of the site’s industrial heritage can also be found in the school’s wooden facades in the form of turned wood or in cut-out panels displaying Mashrabiya effects. The whole is unified by long diagonals formed by hollow joints. The window frames have also adopted an industrial aesthetic. The school’s wooden cladding is made of semi-exposed vertical cleats (Douglas fir). It extends under the roof and on the underside of the covered courtyard, which are also defined by the long diagonal lines. The facades facing the playground, which feature wooden cladding, are equipped with covered walkways for students. Outdoor staircases link the classrooms to the playgrounds.
Outdoor Spaces
At the centre of the site, the landscape design divides the two playgrounds with a chestnut pole fence. Six tall standard trees are planted in this space (pine, tulip tree, European beech) and box hedge type bushes, forming a carpet, creates a physical barrier between the mineral area, which is accessible to the children, and the garden area, which is not.
Indoor Spaces
 A PROJECT WITH STRONG ENVIRONMENTAL CREDENTIALS
The main facets of our HQE approach are as follows:
- Locating the structure so as to protect the playgrounds from dominant winds and angling the building to maximise internal comfort.
- Using sustainable materials such as wood for the school building.
- High-performance facade cladding (wooden envelope / polycarbonate+nanogel+metal mesh)
- Douglas pine framing.
- Larch outer woodwork
- efficient protection from sunlight: vertical and awning / textile Soltis style blinds by Ferrari (FS = 0.13), 50% or 70% (depending on the case) exposed perforated sheet.
- Retention / infiltration and collection of rainwater thanks to the planted rooftop ensuring hydrothermal comfort in summer, permeable surfaces in the playground and a retention tank.
- Autonomous pre-heating of domestic hot water for the catering centre and caretaker accommodation through equipping the roof with solar panels.
- THPE level (very high energy performance) representing a 20% improvement in consumption on RT2005, and that for all the buildings
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