Sustainability turned into a school in Le Havre

AIA Associés designed the new École Nationale Supérieure Maritime (ENSM) training school for future officers in the French navy. Sustainable architecture with an iconic aesthetic, one that looks just like a ship-school.



Young people in Le Havre training to become officers in the French navy in the new École Nationale Supérieure Maritime (ENSM) building, have an added dimension to their schooling - immersion in a marine environment already on land, thanks to a construction that has been designed as a real ship-school.





In fact, AIA Associés have come up with a building that stands like a large ocean-going vessel on the Le Havre coastline, emphasised by the metal skin that plays with light in the interior and creates a beacon effect at night. Even the interiors reference the maritime language with the large gangway-ramp-stairway illuminated from the zenith opening above, straddling four floors and forming the distribution heart of the building. 



And it's not just effective as a method to improve learning with this visually exciting environment, it's also a sustainable option.





The building has been designed to be as autonomous as possible - just like a ship - and the architects focused on solutions to improve the schools' environmental performance, following the processes to design a BEPOS building, therefore an energy-plus construction that generates more than it consumes.



Thanks to bioclimatic design options, ENSM has reduced its energy needs, and added high performance systems that save even more energy. The architects from AIA Associés opted for the use of local, renewable energy sources with an innovative heat pump system to cover all the building's heating and cooling needs and 850 m² of solar energy panels generating an installed peak power of 170kWc. And all of it is integrated with the building's automation system.



With ENSM, AIA Associés shows the huge potential of school buildings for students and for the environment, a real benchmark for a sustainable future.

Christiane Bürklein

Project: AIA Associés
Location: Le Havre, France
Year: 2015
Images: © Luc Boegly, Sisley Carnus (see captions)