The Lycée building is the first step in the City’s master plan to introduce new uses to the Fives-Cail-Babcock (FCB) site, a former steel fabrication works in Fives, and a historically important place of employment for the district. The programme for the Lycée is organised within the footprint of the former factory structures, so that the existing buildings could be retained. At the front of the school complex—where the FCB site and the surrounding city meet—is a complex of new buildings for the gymnasium, student residence and staff accommodation, that mediate between the existing surrounding communities and the new communities that will inhabit this emerging urban quarter.

The wider site is characterised by large-scale structures and open spaces. The master plan sustains the scale, monumentality, and the strong spatial qualities of the factory complex. The design seeks to embody the site’s historical significance, presenting afresh the quality and atmosphere of the historic fabric, yet simultaneously adapting the place for community and learning.

Existing structures are kept in their entirety with their attractive, romantic, and slightly melancholy character intact. Applying a light touch to the restoration, brings into focus their epic scale and their history. The new structures are pragmatic and share a tectonic and material sympathy with the existing. The design is not a game of new and old; it is rather about making a new environment, where interventions work at the scale of the factory, and new programmes draw energy from the extreme spatial generosity.

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