Unité d’Habitation Nursery School – Firminy

The nursery–and primary school–of the unité d’habitation in Firminy, and the dedicated toit terrasse, are closed since 1998 because of modern safety regulations.

Even if proportioned to the children size, each space features generous dimensions and openings that flood the interior with light in the most diverse manners.

The eight communicating classrooms could be merged in one huge communal space by opening the sliding blackboard doors.

Not being accustomed to child-sized furniture, we felt like oversized beings wandering in a midget world.

Now that the toit terrasse–after a restoration in the mid-90s–is completely bare, with none of the plants, greeneries or sandboxes planned originally, it is very hard to imagine children playing in this wonderful wasteland of béton brut.