The Robert Badinter Secondary School in Cambrai, France, features a cantilevered first floor marking its entrance and showcases a timber-framed design by architecture studio Coldefy in collaboration with Relief Architects.
Situated on the grounds of a former railyard opposite the city’s historic 19th-century train station, the school accommodates 650 students and is part of a broader urban revitalisation project within Cambrai.
The building’s linear form is aligned parallel to a row of mature trees, stretching the length of the site and following the orientation of the adjacent streets.
The school’s material palette is intentionally restrained, featuring a timber-framed upper storey and a concrete ground floor, both unified by wooden façades. Coldefy notes that this is the first school in northern France to use a timber-framed structure.
“The material palette is simple and intentionally limited, with a strong emphasis on wood,” said Thomas Coldefy, founder of Coldefy, in an interview with Dezeen.
“The project required a timber structure, but concrete was necessary for the ground floor to meet seismic regulations in the area,” he explained. “Concrete provides stability and durability, while wood adds a sense of warmth.”
The upper floor of the school features an offset gabled roof, intended to echo the form of traditional railway halls in response to the site’s industrial heritage. At one end, the roof projects outward, providing shelter to the main entrance.
“Our aim was to design a new civic building that engages closely with a site steeped in industrial history,” Coldefy said.
Inside the main teaching block, classrooms are distributed across two levels and organised around a central atrium, which is illuminated by skylights that bring daylight into the circulation zones.
On the ground floor, the science rooms, common room, and study hall are located, while the first floor accommodates general classrooms, the library, and the media centre. To create a warm atmosphere, spruce is used for the interior finishes, matching the timber used externally.
Set slightly apart from the main building is a second elongated, timber-framed structure that houses a glass-fronted canteen and staff facilities.
Together, the two buildings create a central courtyard, which includes a playground, sports field, running track, and dedicated staff parking.
A covered walkway at ground level connects the teaching spaces, canteen, staff areas, and playground, while a generously sized, south-facing roof overhang offers passive shading for the building.
“A key feature of the interior layout is the ‘interior street’ concept, made possible by the elongated design,” Coldefy noted.
“The school is centred around a full-height open hall, with classrooms and staff spaces distributed on both levels, and an upper-level balcony overlooking the central double-height area,” he described.
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