Lycée Ile de Nantes

A new addition to the educational network of Nantes, France, the proposed new Lycée as designed by Asymptote Architecture is conceived as being a connecting agent to the urban and cultural life of the city. The school design is a complex of discreet interior and exterior spaces that are together integrated within an agglomeration of large green activated spaces that surround the building and the site.

This strategy of green integration is also achieved with the intricate design of a variety of interstitial spaces situated between the various building components that comprise the school.

The school's program is distributed across the various buildings creating a unique and particular scale that is, in proportion to the surroundings and further, enables the built elements to integrate appropriately into the site. The programmatic distribution of the interior spaces also creates an array of connected open spaces where social interaction between students, faculty and visitors is encouraged and invigorates the spaces within the school.

The use of landscape elements and the continuity of materials along with the transparency of the façades reinforce the links between interior and exterior public space, while strengthening the overall connections of the school to the city. The architecture ultimately is a celebration of education, student life and the interface between nature and city.