Conceived as true urban cool islands, the redesigned school courtyards of Franklin and Raspail embody a clear commitment to addressing today’s climate challenges. Through generous planting schemes and the introduction of natural landscape elements, these spaces provide shelter from heat stress while actively supporting local biodiversity.
Beyond their environmental performance, the courtyards are envisioned as open-air learning environments. They offer children a wide range of sensory experiences, fostering awareness, experimentation, and discovery.
Playful pathways, dedicated play areas, tactile materials, and fragrant plantings are carefully orchestrated to stimulate the senses and encourage curiosity.
Universal accessibility is central to the design approach. Each intervention ensures clear, intuitive, and inclusive circulation, enabling all children—regardless of mobility—to fully enjoy and appropriate the spaces.
By transforming these courtyards into educational, calming, and resilient oases, the practice seeks to reinterpret this 20th-century heritage within a forward-looking vision—one in which well-being, nature, and education are intrinsically connected.