Coldefy completes timber-framed school in northern France

A cantilevered first floor marks the entrance to the timber-framed Robert Badinter Secondary School in Cambrai, France, completed by architecture studio Coldefy with Relief Architects.

Located on the site of a former railyard opposite the city's 19th-century train station, the school accommodates 650 students and forms part of a wider urban renewal in the city.

Robert Badinter Secondary School has a linear form, which runs parallel to a row of mature trees that extends along the full length of the site, following the alignment of the surrounding streets.

It has a deliberately simple material palette, with a timber-framed upper level and a concrete ground floor unified by wooden elevations. According to Coldefy, it is the first timber-framed school in northern France.

"The material palette is simple and intentionally limited, with a strong emphasis on wood," Coldefy founder Thomas Coldefy told Dezeen.

"The project brief required a timber structure, while concrete was necessary on the ground floor of the school building to meet the area's seismic requirements," he stated. "Concrete ensures solidity and durability, while wood brings warmth."

Responding to the context of the site, Robert Badinter Secondary School's upper level features an offset gabled roof intended to resemble the form of traditional railway halls. It overhangs at one end, sheltering the entrance to the school.

"We wanted to create a new community building that engages in close dialogue with a site that is rich in industrial memory," said Coldefy.

Inside the main teaching block, classrooms are spread across two floors, arranged around a central atrium with skylights that allow daylight to filter into the circulation areas.

The science classrooms, common room and study hall are located on the ground floor, while the general teaching rooms, library and media centre are on the first floor. To add warmth to the interior, Coldefy lined it with spruce that matches the exterior.

Set slightly apart from the main linear volume is a second elongated, timber-framed building containing a glass-fronted canteen and staff accommodation.

The two buildings enclose a central courtyard with a playground, sports field, running track and staff parking area.

A covered walkway on the ground floor provides a sheltered connection between the teaching spaces, canteen, staff areas and playground, while a large south-facing roof overhang provides passive shading.

"One of the key strengths of the interior layout is the 'interior street' concept, made possible by the elongated form of the buildings," said Coldefy.

"The school is organised around a floor-to-ceiling open hall, with classrooms and staff facilities distributed across both floors and an upper-level balcony overlooking the central double-height space below," he described.

As part of the project, the studios also retrofitted a train shed across the street, dating back to 1906.

They transformed it into a 934-square-metre, multipurpose sports hall, which is shared with the public outside of school hours.

The shed's original red-brick exterior was restored, while the interior is light-filled and lined with contemporary OSB panels that contrast with its old iron trusses.

Features designed to optimise the school's energy efficiency include a biomass boiler fuelled by locally sourced pellets that meets 80 per cent of the heating requirements.

Elsewhere, solar panels provide 15 per cent of the electricity demand, and a rainwater tank supplies 50 per cent of the water needed for the bathrooms. The school and sports hall hold an 'Excellent' rating under France's High Environmental Quality certification system.

Other educational buildings recently featured on Dezeen include a Canterbury school building clad with snapped flint and a University of Oxford science building finished with rippling stone panels.

The photography is by Julien Lanoo.

Project credits:

Architect: Coldefy
Associate architects: Relief Architecture
Client: Département du Nord
Landscape consultant: Urbania

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