Ateliers Versailles
Renovation of the workshops at the National School of Architecture of Versailles
Facing the Château de Versailles, in the former King’s Stables, the National School of Architecture of Versailles welcomes more than 1200 students each year. Due to changes in teaching methods and the deteriorating condition of the premises, the administration decided to carry out a complete renovation of part of the school: its workshops. The site, partially occupied and heritage-listed, required a fast intervention, which led the design process towards a synthetic approach.
To address the various challenges, the project reorganized all the networks, incorporating lighting and furniture, both fixed and mobile. This was accompanied by a clean and simple renovation of the historic shell. The project covers a surface of 1500 m², composed of three large workshops with distinct geometries. The renovation takes advantage of each space's specific features to offer a variety of work and learning environments (group work, individual work, computer use, model making, etc.), while also encouraging interaction between students. Two of the spaces, due to their unique configuration, are more suited for solitary work or model making, while the third workshop, with its simple layout, allows for a variety of configurations thanks to its mobile tables and suspended networks (exhibitions, presentations, etc.).
The furniture, custom-designed, is assembled mechanically from standardized elements, modified as little as possible. The attachment systems to the existing structures were designed to efficiently free up and clear the spaces, which are often cluttered during project submissions. Raw materials, such as galvanized steel and recycled plastic, are used to resonate with the history of the site. The restoration of the stones and plaster, over 300 years old, creates a dialogue between the historical architecture and the new intervention.
