Dominique Coulon, School Complex, Saint-Jean, Strasbourg

A “masterpiece” is how architect Alberto Campo Baeza described the renovation of the Saint-Jean school complex in Strasbourg designed by architect Dominique Coulon. 

The safety and restoration of a school complex in a rational sixties building was assigned to the architectural studio Dominique Coulon et associés, Architectes. The main idea of the project, as  Campo Baeza points out, is the prevailing “spacial diversity” created with almost surgical precision. In order to get rid of the monotonous and repetitive features of this sixties building it was necessary to effectively differentiate the space and create new reference points for the building.

First of all, the architects updated the safety and re-planned the external spaces by differentiating the entrances to the two schools (nursery and primary). The changes are seen immediately on the ground floor and entrance hall: welcoming areas with rounded shapes. The use of fluid and dynamic curves and bright colours to differentiate the areas: the entrances and the school library which is a more regular geometric shape. The attention the architects have placed on spacial arrangements allow the young students to recognise the rhythm of the school day. In fact, the design was created on the basis of scientific studies and with the collaboration of the neuroscientist Claude Bonnet.

(Agnese Bifulco)

Design: Dominique Coulon et associés, Architectes 

Dominique Coulon, Benjamin Rocchi, Architectes

Sarah Brebbia, Olivier Nicollas, Delphine George, Guillaume Wittmann, Architectes assistants.

Location: Strasbourg, France

Images courtesy of Dominique Coulon et associés, Architectes
photo by David Romero-Uzeda
http://coulon-architecte.fr/

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