The Les Boutours eco-nursery school is one of the buildings that made the environmental reputation of Rosny-sous-Bois. The building is connected to the district heating network: the masonry heater is not the main heating there, but one of the low-tech systems chosen by the town alongside a wood-fired boiler and natural ventilation. On a building of this size, a heater makes no claim to general heating — it provides supplementary heat, thermal inertia and a source of warmth that depends on no network.
The photograph shows the first fire, in July 2017, while the building was still under construction — bare partitions, exposed structure. This is not impatience: the mass must be dried out through gradual rises in temperature before commissioning, and that cycle cannot be started once the children are in the building.
The cladding is made of large pale panels with recessed joints, a robust, washable finish suited to a school building. The firebox is vertical and narrow, at adult eye level.
Completed in 2017.
The Les Boutours school is a new building completed in 2017, built in load-bearing straw and raw earth on a timber frame — one of the operations that made the town’s reputation in eco-construction. The project management is in-house: it is handled by the Research and Innovation department of Rosny-sous-Bois, which is rare for a public building of this scale.
Sources
- Project sheet ‘Groupe scolaire Les Boutours 2’ — Ekopolis
- Case study ‘École maternelle des Boutours’ — Construction21
- ‘Deux écoles, deux défis architecturaux’ — Ville de Rosny-sous-Bois
