Winner of the competition with Paquet-Taillefer Architectes and LECLERC Architecte, the proposal set out to maximize the schoolyard’s surface area by suggesting a linear installation of the new building on the North part of the site. The yard’s space was therefore maximized and now offers a healthy and green environment for students and the community. Inspired by the St-Lawrence River Valley’s landscapes, the project proposed a diversity of meeting, play and discovery zones.

On the South part of the schoolyard is an “imaginary river zone”, where a path of islands is found, and onto which are inserted play modules and mounds. At the center of the yard is a “prairie”, a wide-open space where sports games can be held. It is also in this fertile space that a garden is planted and where students are initiated to vegetable farming. The Piémont, another important regional landscape, is represented symbolically by the “porch”, a slightly elevated space from which children can observe the schoolyard’s ongoing activities. Finally, North, a small wooded area with rocks and plants typical of the Laurentian Plateau bring greenery and fresh air to the design. This area is also a bioretention zone and facilitates water drainage to the ground.

For traffic, a new kiss-and-drop area was proposed on the street and in the parking lots split at both ends of the site and on the street for the students’ safety and as to not take from the schoolyard’s surface area. This project was thought out as to create a meeting of the poetic representations of the great landscapes of the region and the functional needs of the school and the village communities. From this meeting, the project proposes a schoolyard that is equally beautiful, practical and rooted in its environment.