Tarbes , France

Reffye Vocational School

Reffye vocational college has been built in a converted barracks within the dense old town in the centre of Tarbes. This development is charcterized by light-coloured rendered masonry with architectonic elements made from black and white bricks.

Year of delivery

2012
Location

Tarbes France
Architect / signatory

LEJEUNE & Associés et IAM Architectes
Project owner

Région Midi-Pyrénées
Installation company

Briqueteurs Réunis
Photograph

Olivier Brunet

Product name

Classic brick
Product form

Standard
Epidermis texture

Through body colour
Surface appearance

Plain natural
Color

Engobed Black
Work

Extension

HD download

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Titre d'article

The subdued elegance of black and white brick walls

The distinctive outline of the roof will make the Reffye vocational college instantly recognizable. It consists of two monopitch roofs back to back but offset. This separate storey, which combines slate and attractive black bricks, is also offset both horizontally and vertically relative to the substructure which is faced in white bricks and has a very pronounced horizontal east-west extension.
These cladding walls protect an insulating envelope made of 140mm thick polyurethane foam. They are the most important part of the environmental quality system of the building and have made it possible to achieve a CEP target of 50 kWh/m²/year. They have also made it possible to make the precast concrete of the external walls visible on the inside. "

The word of

LEJEUNE & Associés et IAM Architectes, Architect

Interview

Geoffroy Sampaolo, associate architect at the IAM agency, said:
"The terracotta materials chosen to make the cladding walls are long perforated bricks with a smooth finish. The colour of the mortar closely matches the two shades of the brick, black and white, in order to reinforce the visual effect of the surfaces which shimmer in the light. All the subtleties of the material come to life when exposed to the sun.