Robert Doisneau School, Corbeil-Essonnes, 2009

This secondary school is characteristic of the architecture and the urban planning of the large housing complexes built in the 1960s, with two main large "slab" blocks of flats, 150m long, with repetitive, flat, monotonous façades. Its present redevelopment is a determinant architectural and urban issue, since it aims to give contemporary expression and a new institutional image to a building which, until now, has had very strong "public housing complex" connotations. We wished to re-scale the large slab blocks and to redesign them as the façades of a large street, with variations in the proportions, curves and profiles of façade mouldings, in the fenestration and types of windows, and in the claddings and finishes. For these purposes, we distinguished the areas for teaching different subjects (languages, art and general teaching) and the different types of spaces (large examination halls, offices, housing, and loggias in circulation areas) for which we designed a specific range of different façades to give visibility to the wide diversity present in the school. We designed the new extension building containing the entrance lobby and the theatre in a generous curved form that opens onto the entrance esplanade and continues along the street with the cafeteria building in the aim to give the school visibility in its urban setting with a welcoming front façade.