Simone Veil School Complex: School as an Ecosystem

Designed by Le Penhuel & Associés and winner of the 2025 Équerre d’Argent, the Simone Veil School Complex in Tremblay-en-France addresses a critical modern challenge: transforming educational spaces into environments that respond to the climate emergency without compromising the everyday experience of the space.

Infrastructure shared between school and neighborhood

Set among family homes, the complex integrates into the neighborhood as shared infrastructure – a permeable organism that houses eight classrooms alongside a variety of functions, including a cafeteria, offices, a multipurpose hall, and a caretaker’s residence. The program extends to the roof, where the playground is open to the local community.

The project’s conceptual core is an interpretation of the “school-as-house.” Replacing the traditional recreation center with large, shared spaces creates a fluid environment where the boundaries between formal and informal learning dissolve. Within this system, the north-south central atrium serves as a hub of activity – an indoor plaza that encourages interaction and exchange. Three alcoves articulate the main volume, introducing a domestic scale and providing varied micro-learning environments.

A “classroom street” traverses the building from east to west, forming a second structural axis. Bisected by an indoor play area, each section of the axis contains four classrooms and several courtyards. At each classroom entrance, a vestibule with coat storage and play structures serves both educational and recreational purposes.

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Sustainable spaces and outdoor learning

Designed with dual exposure, the classrooms benefit from natural light and cross-ventilation. To the north, courtyards filter natural light and create intimate atmospheres enhanced by the use of wood. To the south, a direct connection to the main schoolyard introduces a more dynamic, communal dimension. Each classroom has a private terrace facing the schoolyard. Featuring shaded areas and play equipment, these outdoor extensions help blur the boundary between classroom and landscape.

Shared by the preschool and elementary school, the wooded schoolyard serves as an environmental mechanism as well as a play area. Meanwhile, the roof serves as an open-air laboratory, with learning gardens, communal tables, and biodiversity zones supporting outdoor instruction. From this perspective, the building itself teaches through its operation, highlighting natural cycles and sustainable practices.

The choice of materials reflects this vision. Sourced from a local quarry, load-bearing stone facades provide thermal mass and inertia, ensuring durability and anchoring the building to its site. Inside, a combination of wood and compressed earth blocks incorporates bio-based materials while enhancing indoor comfort. Distributed throughout the complex, courtyards act as bioclimatic features that ensure extensive daylighting and ventilation.

Completing the vision, photovoltaic panels on the sports center roof generate more energy than the building consumes, while a green roof improves thermal insulation and stormwater management.

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