Gaston Crochet Secondary School

The architecture unfolds as a series of volumes of controlled scale, organised around open, generously planted spaces. Courtyards, patios and covered walkways become places to meet and breathe, extending the teaching spaces outdoors and giving the school a less institutional character, closer to that of a campus in the landscape.

The large roofs, sheltered galleries and light-filtering devices respond to the humid, changeable climate of La Plaine-des-Palmistes. Planting is an integral part of the composition and accompanies the routes between the different parts of the programme.

The proposal thus seeks to make the school not only a place of learning but a real place to live, where architecture, climate and landscape together shape the pupils’ daily life.