Lycée Jules Ferry, campus scolaire Coulommiers

The Regional School Campus of Coulommiers — resulting from the merger of the Georges-Cormier and Jules Ferry high schools — plays a key role in the Quartiers de demain (Neighbourhoods of Tomorrow) development and consultation process, given its scale, heritage value and environmental ambitions. The project involves the partial restructuring and extension of a large site designated as Remarkable Contemporary Architecture to create an innovative educational campus. The design proposal of the campus architect combines camaraderie, versatility and high-energy performance.

Within the campus and in connection with the city, new links are established. The circulation routes for pedestrians and cyclists are simplified. Newly landscaped axes structure the site, reinforcing the integration of the Jules Ferry high school into a broader green urban fabric. To ensure overall architectural coherence, the campus architect reinterprets the original façades of Émile Alliaud’s architecture in a contemporary language, which respects the site’s existing scales and orientations, while prioritizing compact building forms to maximize outdoor spaces.

Within the campus and in connection with the city, new links are established. The circulation routes for pedestrians and cyclists are simplified. Newly landscaped axes structure the site, reinforcing the integration of the Jules Ferry high school into a broader green urban fabric. To ensure overall architectural coherence, the campus architect reinterprets the original façades of Émile Alliaud’s architecture in a contemporary language, which respects the site’s existing scales and orientations, while prioritizing compact building forms to maximize outdoor spaces. La compacité des volumes, la performance de l’enveloppe, la création d’une inertie intérieure, le recours à des matériaux à faible énergie grise et la maîtrise des apports solaires et de lumière naturelle sont les principes qui ont guidé la conception.

This restructuring contributes to a renewed vision of a 21st-century campus centered on innovative learning. The layouts of the learning environment design offer maximum flexibility and support new methods of teaching and knowledge sharing. The campus architect extends learning spaces into the main hall and adds a multipurpose room connected to a large study area, providing alternatives to traditional classrooms and fostering new forms of learning and collaboration.