The Collège du Ban

In 2018, structural movement inside the Collège du Ban in Vagney gave rise to fears of the foundations collapsing. The building was evacuated immediately, and lessons transferred to premises at the Saulxures-sur-Moselotte secondary school. 

In March 2019, an architectural competition was launched which was won in October of the same year by the architectural firm from Lyon, Tectoniques. 

In 2020, project management work began as well as the removal of asbestos from the old college which dated back to 1974; this was followed by its demolition and a call for bids to build a new one which started in May 2021. On 3 January 2023, the new college opened its doors to students. 

The Tectoniques Architectural Firm won the competition and formed a team with the associate architects LSW and SQUAD, Perrin structures bois, Jean-Baptiste Lestra paysagiste and Egènie for environmental monitoring; a team which made architectural and construction choices focused on simplicity. 

The project centres around the desire by the Department Council to guarantee a construction with a global environmental approach. The final aim of all those involved was a sustainable building with better energy performance compared to the current standards. They opted for local materials to reduce the school’s carbon footprint and to contribute to the local economy: 11 of the 13 companies selected following the call for tenders were based in Vosges. 

Considering the harshness of the climate, the building was designed to be compact, with a limited heat dispersion surface area and therefore with a limited energy heating requirement: consumption should be in the region of 25kWh/m2 per year. The heating comes directly from the heating network in Vagney which in turn is 90% powered by a biomass boiler. 

Each area benefits from a generous influx of natural light, including the corridors, thanks to awnings and north-facing skylights, contributing to the occupants’ well-being and limiting the need for artificial lighting throughout most of the day. 

When artificial lighting is required, use is made of LED recess luminaires from the Laser Blade series which were selected in the 5,10 and 15-cell versions with General Lighting and Wide Oval optics to recreate the atmosphere of general, diffused and even light in the evening that there is during the day. The recess luminaires are installed on false ceilings, all of them with sound absorption but with a different appearance: for the extensive entrance and distribution area, the Agorà, as it is known, for example a false ceiling was installed made of strips of wood; in the library, on the other hand, is a pierced false ceiling, while wood wool was selected for the corridors between the classrooms and in some of the classrooms themselves. The Laser Blade luminaire slots in perfectly with all these different types and is an element of aesthetic homogeneity. Palco header spotlights were used, on the other hand, in some corridors.