The Dominique Frelaut School Group in Colombes proposes a clear architectural position within a dense and fragmented urban context. Designed by Tectoniques, the recently completed project occupies a relatively small plot in the north-western suburbs of Paris, on the former site of an Ericsson industrial facility. In response to its constrained footprint and ambitious program, the school adopts a vertical structure that intertwines architecture and landscape, redefining how educational space can operate in height rather than sprawl.
EDUCATIONAL PROJECTS
The building rises as a compact yet expressive volume that coils around its playground, forming a protective enclosure that is both monumental and immediately legible. This inward-focused composition allows the school to assert a strong identity while buffering pupils from the surrounding urban density. The vertical organization also makes room for a generous green playground, an uncommon luxury in such a tight site, achieved by stacking programs and activating roofs and terraces as usable outdoor spaces.
On the city side, the façades form a continuous terracotta envelope that references the brick traditions of the Île-de-France region, with an explicit nod to Alvar Aalto. Vertically placed ceramic plaquettes emphasize their role as cladding rather than structure. By alternating flat and convex elements, the façade gains a ribbed texture that shifts with changing daylight and viewpoints, giving the building a subtle dynamism without relying on graphic effects. Toward the courtyard and on the uppermost level, the material language changes. Here, façades are composed of wood, mounted on an ultra-thin suspended metal structure. Wooden slats provide solar protection and support climbing vegetation rooted directly in the courtyard soil, reinforcing the relationship between built form and planted ground.
Landscape is treated as an integral architectural component rather than a surface treatment. On each floor, one classroom is deliberately removed to create hanging garden balconies that extend learning spaces outward and frame views toward the town. To the south, the roof of the playground becomes a broad platform arranged as a teaching garden, linking the two wings of the building. The ground of the courtyard remains largely permeable, with exposed soil and reused materials evoking the alluvial landscapes and riparian forests of the Seine.
This central open space functions as a miniature Parisian basin. It collects and filters rainwater while hosting a stratified landscape that mirrors the region’s natural environments. Terraces form a small arboretum that represents the soils and ecosystems of the Paris Basin, organized along an altimetric gradient. Lower levels evoke the Seine, while higher terraces reference woods and dry grasslands. This didactic landscape turns ecology into a lived experience, visible and accessible from classrooms and circulation spaces.
Movement through the building is shaped by its staggered floors, which generate a network of varied pathways. Two large cylindrical concrete volumes house monumental helicoidal staircases, open and flooded with natural light. A mirrored disk suspended above each stair adds a playful visual cue, encouraging upward movement. Exterior staircases cascade down into the courtyard, connecting all terrace levels and offering an open-air route through the school, punctuated by panoramic views of the city.
Inside, natural light plays a defining role. Corridors receive daylight through large picture windows arranged diagonally across the façade, following the logic of the staggered volumes. Classroom entrances, proportioned similarly and largely glazed, align with these openings to create deep visual perspectives through the building. This configuration ensures indirect sunlight, cross-ventilation, and a constant visual relationship with the exterior. While all classrooms share identical proportions, each differs in orientation, outlook, and spatial condition. On the top floor, the dining hall opens onto a wide view of the Paris skyline, turning a daily routine into a moment of connection with the wider city.
Material choices inside reinforce the school’s pedagogical intent. Partition walls between corridors and classrooms are clad in compressed earthen bricks, exposed on both sides. These elements contribute to thermal inertia and humidity regulation while giving the interiors a tactile presence. Built-in furnishings made from poplar plywood soften the rawness of exposed concrete and technical systems. Structure and service networks remain visible, allowing pupils to understand how the building is made and how it functions. This constructive clarity supports both educational value and long-term maintenance.
