Le Blé en Herbe is a primary and nursery school in Trébédan, a village in Brittany with 400 inhabitants. For the past eight years, the teachers have run educational projects for the school’s 64 children that closely involve parents, town councilors, and elderly members of the community. Besides breathing new life into this rural area, their initiatives ledto the creation of a group of patrons united around a new project. As part of a scheduled renovation, the patrons wanted to expand the school’s functionality and make it an environmentally friendly place for everyone. They commissioned the artist Matali Crasset, who submitted an ambitious proposal: the addition of daycare faci lities and a cafeteria; an energy-saving passive-house construction; the creation of a physical link to the village square and the surrounding nature; various sculptural elements; and shared spaces that all residents can use. The project has turned the school into a hub for activity and social interaction – a community center in the truest sense of the word.

“We developed a school project aimed to offer pupils an active role in their learning experience.”

Nolwenn Guillou, School Principal and teacher, Patron