Schools

Building the places where our children are educated is a demanding task. Too often, these spaces suffer from obsolescence, both functional and symbolic. School architecture in France is strongly marked by two major eras: the nineteenth century with the Jules Ferry school model, and the post war period with the Pailleron model. While new schools continue to be built, many existing ones are renovated, extended, or transformed from these earlier models in order to meet contemporary educational and environmental expectations.

The new extension to the De Nova secondary school illustrates how architecture can embody innovative approaches to learning. The existing educational campus—comprising a kindergarten, primary school, and secondary school, alongside facilities for music and arts education—had evolved over decades. What began as a cluster of pavilions from the 1950s and 1960s, with further additions in the 1970s and 1980s, had become a fragmented ensemble lacking overall cohesion.

The Simone Veil School Group in Vertou is a new educational facility bringing together two schools within a single, unified structure: an eight-class kindergarten at ground level and a twelve-class elementary school above. The project emerges from a strong dialogue with the site and from a clear ambition to create a reassuring, generous learning environment.

“We approach the construction of the academies as an opportunity to reactivate community culture. The proposal seeks not only to mend the existing spatial fabric of the city but also trace and reveal the valuable cultural threads embedded in its surroundings. We hope to ‘nourish’ the future of the district, weaving a more generous urban space and a richer urban life through the architectural design of two new schools.”Meng Yan.

With the construction of three new schools in Bremerhaven, a public-sector building project has been realized for the first time using the Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) model (Integriertes Projektabwicklungsmodell, IPA). This project serves as a pilot for gmp and as a nationwide reference project for collaborative construction in the public sector. The schools, designed for approximately 1,750 pupils and students, gradually began operations starting in summer 2025, initially the Hamburger Straße School Center in Geestemünde and the New Lehe Secondary School, followed in the autumn by the New Lehe Elementary School, as scheduled.

Wuzhou Primary School is designed to support new ways of learning that prioritize creativity, play, and exploration. Located in the center of Shenzhen, the school responds to the city’s transition from an industrial economy toward one driven by discovery and innovation by rethinking how space can shape everyday educational experience.

Roots and Context. The “Mirador School La Jalquilla” project is located in San Ignacio, in the Ceja de Selva region, on the border with Ecuador, in Peru. This region, with an economy centered on coffee cultivation, faces significant challenges due to its isolation and resource scarcity. The project aims to revitalize local knowledge and traditions, integrating the rich biodiversity and Andean and Amazonian cultures into its proposal. It benefits more than 110 primary and secondary students, in addition to providing sports and public infrastructure for the community. The school stands as a comprehensive path that promotes educational development, fostering well-being, and strengthening ties with the natural and cultural environment.