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Jean Mace School: Rammed Earth Classrooms in France

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This article covers topics related to Architecture. NTSA Architectes extended a French primary school using 50cm load-bearing rammed earth walls, timber ceilings, and a rooftop courtyard for students.

NTSA Architectes extended a French primary school using 50cm load-bearing rammed earth walls, timber ceilings, and a rooftop courtyard for students.

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UNI Editorial published Story under Architecture on Jan 10, 2025

In Villefranche-sur-Saone, a town north of Lyon, a school has been extended with rammed earth walls. Groupe Scolaire Jean Mace, designed by NTSA Architectes, is a primary school extension and gymnasium built from locally sourced rammed earth, concrete, and timber. The rammed earth is not cladding. It is the structure. The walls are 50cm thick, load-bearing, and exposed on both sides. They keep the classrooms cool in summer, warm in winter, and quiet all year.

The project extends an existing school by adding three new volumes around an enlarged playground: two classroom blocks and a gymnasium. The existing building was renovated and connected to the new construction. The result is a school built from the ground it stands on, designed to teach children about materials, climate, and how buildings are made.

The Street: Rammed Earth as Facade

Street facade: long rammed earth wall with scattered small square windows, figure walking past

Street view: white concrete gymnasium at left, rammed earth classroom block at right, timber fence, young olive trees

Context: rammed earth school beside an older pink rendered house, stone boundary wall, overhead wire, neighbourhood scale

From the street, the school presents a long rammed earth wall with scattered small square windows. The earth is warm ochre with visible layers from the ramming process. The windows are punched into the mass at different heights and spacings, giving the facade a composed randomness that avoids the institutional grid of most school buildings. A white concrete gymnasium volume sits at one end. A timber fence and young olive trees line the pavement. The school sits comfortably beside the older neighbourhood houses.

The Playground and Courtyard

Playground courtyard: two-storey rammed earth and concrete building, timber pergola above, children playing, timber fence playground, young trees

Corner view: rammed earth upper block above concrete ground floor, external steel stair, child playing with frisbee, timber fence

Playground: two-storey rammed earth block, covered ground floor, children playing on the asphalt, metal fence

The playground is the centre of the plan. The new buildings frame it on three sides, with the existing school on the fourth. Children play on the asphalt under the rammed earth walls. A timber fence encloses a play area with sand. The ground floor of the classroom block is open on concrete pilotis, creating a covered play area for rainy days. Above, the rammed earth mass sits heavy and warm, a material that children can touch, smell, and understand.

Rooftop and Upper Walkway

Rooftop courtyard: rammed earth walls with scattered windows, timber bench planters, students sitting and talking

Upper walkway: timber louvre pergola providing shade, concrete parapet, students sitting, red chairs, rammed earth wall behind

The rooftop terrace is one of the project's best spaces. Rammed earth walls enclose a courtyard with timber bench planters where students sit and talk. The upper walkway has a timber louvre pergola that shades the gallery and casts striped shadows on the concrete floor. The rammed earth wall runs behind, and red chairs mark the outdoor classroom area. This is outdoor space designed for a school: sheltered, visible from the classrooms, and warm in material.

Classrooms and Corridor

Classroom: plywood wall panels, timber-framed windows with yellow curtains, CLT timber ceiling panels, student desks and coloured chairs

Interior corridor: plywood-lined walls and doors, exposed concrete structure, long perspective, yellow radiator accent

Detail: rammed earth wall with two windows flanking a yellow corrugated metal panel, courtyard visible through glass

The classrooms have plywood wall panels, timber-framed windows with yellow curtains, and CLT timber ceiling panels. The palette is warm: timber, plywood, and the occasional yellow accent (curtains, radiators, corrugated metal panels). The corridor runs the full length of the building with plywood-lined walls, exposed concrete structure, and timber doors. The yellow radiator at the end of the corridor is the only strong colour. The interiors are calm, durable, and designed for children to use hard without breaking.

The Gymnasium

Gymnasium: glulam timber beam ceiling, basketball hoop, handball goal, timber sports floor, concrete walls, clerestory windows

Gymnasium entrance: concrete block walls, concrete columns, timber door, built-in bench

The gymnasium is a double-height volume with a glulam timber beam ceiling, concrete walls, clerestory windows, and a timber sports floor. A basketball hoop and handball goal are fitted. The entrance lobby has concrete block walls, concrete columns, and a timber door. The gymnasium is the most industrial space in the school, but the timber ceiling softens it. The clerestory windows bring daylight without glare on the sports floor.

Rammed Earth: Material and Detail

Gymnasium volume from above the trees: two-storey rammed earth with small scattered windows, tree canopy in foreground

Detail: rammed earth wall corner meeting perforated metal mesh screen, warm afternoon sunlight on the earth texture

Upper level: rammed earth wall with small windows, metal balustrade walkway, concrete pilotis below

Facade: rammed earth upper floor with metal panel balustrade, concrete pilotis at ground level creating covered play area

The rammed earth walls are the project's defining material. They are 50cm thick, built from locally excavated soil mixed with a small percentage of cement for seismic compliance. The layers of each lift are visible on the surface: darker and lighter bands recording the compaction process. The walls are load-bearing, thermally massive, and acoustically absorbing. A perforated metal mesh screen meets the earth wall at one corner. Metal panel balustrades run along the upper walkway. Every detail acknowledges the mass and texture of the earth.

Plans

Site plan: gymnasium, playground, new classroom buildings around courtyard, existing school building, surrounding streets and trees

Ground floor plan: gymnasium, classrooms, playground, canteen, covered courtyard, existing building retained

First floor plan: upper classrooms along the gallery walkway, gymnasium double-height roof, rooftop terrace

The site plan shows the three new volumes arranged around the enlarged playground, with the existing school building retained and renovated on the fourth side. The ground floor plan shows the gymnasium, classrooms, canteen, covered courtyard, and circulation. The first floor plan shows the upper classrooms accessed from the gallery walkway, the gymnasium's double-height roof, and the rooftop terrace.

Why This Project Matters

Rammed earth in a French public school is unusual. Most school projects in France use concrete, steel, and curtain wall. NTSA Architectes chose rammed earth because it performs: it stores heat, absorbs sound, regulates humidity, and does not need painting or finishing. The 50cm walls are the insulation, the structure, and the finish in one material. This reduces cost, embodied carbon, and long-term maintenance.

If you are designing a school, a community building, or any public project where material honesty and thermal mass matter, this project is worth studying for how rammed earth can be used structurally in a contemporary European building without compromise.

About the Studio

NTSA Architectes

French architecture studio led by Nicolas Toury, working across educational, cultural, and public projects with a focus on sustainable materials.

nicolastoury.fr

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