Le Vau Pavilion
The Le Vau Educational Pavilion is a small building made of wood and rammed earth, built inside a primary school in Paris’s 20th arrondissement. The project responds to three main goals: to create a space that supports learning while making people feel welcome; to connect the school with its surrounding neighbourhood; and to reduce the environmental impact of construction.
This project grew from two main starting points. First, it is part of public initiatives led by the City of Paris, including the OASIS programme and participatory budgeting. Second, it is based on daily observations by the teaching team at Le Vau School. Teachers noted that many parents find it difficult to enter the school, stay for a moment, or feel truly welcome. In some cases, the school is perceived with hesitation or mistrust as an institution.
The OASIS programme aims to introduce more greenery into school playgrounds to reduce urban heat. At Le Vau School, unused outdoor areas were planted and transformed. A vegetable garden, an orchard, and a picnic area were created, allowing new activities to take place. These spaces also became informal meeting points for parents and teachers. From these exchanges emerged the idea, developed through participatory budgeting, of creating a dedicated space in the school courtyard for welcome, learning, and shared activities.
Our role as architects was therefore to bring together several different challenges: designing an architecture that supports two distinct uses; creating a link between the school and its neighbourhood; and reducing the carbon impact of construction.
Geometry became the tool through which these challenges were combined, leading to the design of this new and distinctive space.
We chose a circular room rather than the traditional rectangular classroom. The circle allows for multiple layouts and encourages collective, collaborative, and more balanced relationships between all users.
The building is circular, made of rammed earth and lined with a wall of unfired clay bricks, and topped by a timber roof structure covered with zinc. Inside, an off-centre peripheral service band contains toilets and storage, and is punctuated by six access points leading to six glazed doors opening to the outside. The project is built using bio-based, durable materials as part of an environmentally responsible approach. It is the first load-bearing rammed-earth building in Paris.
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Le Vau Pavilion
The Le Vau Educational Pavilion is a small building made of wood and rammed earth, built inside a primary school in Paris’s 20th arrondissement. The project responds to three main goals: to create a space that supports learning while making people feel welcome; to connect the school with its surrounding neighbourhood; and to reduce the environmental impact of construction.
Our role as architects was therefore to bring together several different challenges: designing an architecture that supports two distinct uses; creating a link between the school and its neighbourhood; and reducing the carbon impact of construction.
Geometry became the tool through which these challenges were combined, leading to the design of this new and distinctive space.
We chose a circular room rather than the traditional rectangular classroom. The circle allows for multiple layouts and encourages collective, collaborative, and more balanced relationships between all users.
Il s’agit d’un bâtiment rond en pisé doublé d’une paroi en brique de terre crue et surmonté d’une charpente bois recouverte d’une toiture en zinc. A l’intérieur une bande servante périphérique et décentrée intègre des sanitaires et des rangements et est rythmé par six accès qui desservent six portes vitrée donnant sur l’extérieur. Le projet est construit en filière biosourcée et durable, dans une démarche écoresponsable. Il est le premier bâtiment porteur en pisé de Paris.
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