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École primaire Sainte-Lucie
By : BGLA Architecture + Design urbain
GRANDS PRIX DU DESIGN – 16th edition
Discipline : Architecture
Categories : Public Building / School & Preschool Education Building : Bronze Certification
Categories : Special Award / Architecture + Colour : Platinum Winner
Categories : Special Award / Architecture + Stairs : Gold Certification
This project was born out of the CSSDM’s need to better serve the rapidly growing population of the St-Michel neighborhood. The solution chosen was to replace the Sainte-Lucie school, which was considered dilapidated, contaminated and not very functional, with a new school that was larger, brighter and better adapted to today’s needs. This new project was also the perfect opportunity to requalify the urban experience of the block by making it more permeable to pedestrians and by greening St-Michel Boulevard.
The project is rooted in the neighborhood’s geographical peculiarity of having a territory split by the Miron and Francon quarries. The immensity of the space occupied by these quarries provides an extraordinary experience; a walk through these places is enough to reveal the richness and diversification of the environments found there. The volumetry of the school is materialized by two large mineral volumes, one tapered and narrow, the other generous, in the image of the quarries.
The new construction is divided into two wings that include five (5) preschool classrooms and eighteen (18) elementary classrooms, a daycare room, a gymnasium, a library, a schoolyard, a music room and an art room. The proposed site plan offers a new outdoor space to the north of the site which make it possible to hold special events and bring the local community together.
The courtyard extends into the southeast portion of the site. A generous planted strip of trees is proposed along St. Michel Boulevard to reduce the noise and visual impact of traffic at this location. This vegetated strip will also provide shaded areas that will be appreciated by students and teachers during the summer.
The building form and layout have been thought out so that the majority of the classrooms face north to mitigate noise (boulevard and schoolyard) and excessive sunlight. The vegetation cover on the roof of the gymnasium helps to reduce the heat island effect in addition to providing an outdoor educational space.
The two upper floors form a massive prism punctuated with openings following an irregular pattern. The first floor is distinguished by more outspoken openings and lighter-looking cladding. The recessed parts of the first floor help to reduce the windows’ exposure to the sun.
The central element of the project is an atrium that links the floors as much as the two wings making up the complex. With its distinctive staircase that incorporates a double slide in its lower portion, it acts as a signaling element and serves as a landmark in the space. This atrium also provides a long bench with a panoramic view towards the gymnasium.
The project makes use of color patterns deployed both inside and outside. These colorful patterns help make the interior spaces dynamic, while outside they give the project an original look offering Montréal-Nord students a stimulating and quite unique educational environment.
The new construction fulfills the original goals of meeting today’s educational needs while providing a contemporary character to the building including the use of color and lighted circulation spaces.
Collaboration
