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Balzac high school rewilding
An educational ecology
Issoudun - FR
Client
Team
Area
4,6 ha
Acheived
- 2,400 m² of asphalt removed
+ 6,000 young trees planted by students
100% local rainwater infiltration
The Anthropized Baseline
Located on the edge of the Champagne Berrichonne plateau, the Balzac high school operates as a disconnected island.
Historically designed with a strict focus on architectural function, the campus suffers from a brutal topography and an overabundance of asphalt. It is a highly mineralised, heat-trapping enclave with vast, underutilised non-places that fail to facilitate student life or ecological exchange.
The project aims to awaken this dormant landscape, using targeted subtraction and biological succession to transform the school from a static infrastructure into a living, metabolic campus.
Subtractive Design & Material Metabolism
Rather than adding new, imported materials to fix the site, the design relies on a massive act of depaving. Over 2,400 m² of impermeable asphalt is stripped away to liberate the soil.
In a strict circular economy approach, this extracted material is not treated as waste. Instead, the excavated asphalt slabs are upcycled in-situ, stacked like dry stone walls to construct the new structural furniture of the campus, including benches, retaining walls, and a new outdoor amphitheater.
By turning a climatic liability into convivial social infrastructure, the project physically manifests the concept of productive remediation.
Hydrological Resonance
The hiding water in underground pipes is entirely reversed. The project disconnects the campus from the municipal stormwater network, transitioning to an apparent, open-air hydrological system.
Rainwater is directed into newly excavated swales, permeable gravel pathways, and rain gardens. Every newly created green space is slightly sunken to act as a natural sponge, making the cycles of water visible and allowing the landscape to naturally cool the adjacent, overheated building facades.
Co-Planting the Future
To bridge the nature-culture divide, the landscape must be cultivated by its users. Instead of instantly installing mature, nursery-grown trees, the project embraces the slow, resilient dynamics of natural succession.
The planting strategy introduces 6,000 young saplings of indigenous, climate-resilient species. Crucially, these are planted through a series of participatory workshops involving the high school students and local environmental volunteers. Together, they construct Miyawaki-style micro-forests and transition sterile lawns into dynamic triennial meadows.
This act of co-plantation is a profound exercise in conviviality. It transforms the students from passive consumers of a space into active stewards of their ecosystem, fostering a narrative of interdependency that will grow alongside the forest for decades to come.