Marcel Sembat high school, Sotteville-lès-Rouen

Architizer A+ Awards 2014 – Public and jury prizes
ArchiDesignClub Awards par MUUUZ 2014 – Category education
Prix Roux Dorlut 2013 de l’Académie d’Architecture

The refurbishment and extension of the Lycée Marcel Sembat combines urban planning, landscape and architecture in a unique location between the city and the park, with a programme that creates large volumes. The project has two main aims: to unify and integrate, and to enhance the identity of a workshop building. Technical courses, in this case automotive, suffer from a lack of image.

We’ve come up with an answer.
That’s why this building is the largest, the clearest and the most carefully designed.
We opted for a design that was easy to understand and that met the requirements of the programme, particularly for the new workshops, which demanded high heights and large volumes. We used steel, which accurately reflects the design, as an industrial implementation of our thinking. It quickly appeared to be the solution for achieving the slenderness, undulation, free volumes and strong identity we were looking for.