Dhuoda High School

At the beginning of his collaboration with Jean Nouvel, Alain Bony had the luck to be able to experiment a lot, sometimes in the workshop, sometimes in the very place of the architectural project as it was the case of Dhuoda High School. With the conceptual theme being the work of Yves Klein but on the scale of a whole space, the idea was to take the metaphors to literal application and this represented using some extreme techniques which included “setting on fire” the classrooms to achieve the desired effect.

The final result exposed a unique mix of golden precious textures, the Klein’s blue colour and calcined raw materials that aimed to evoke a sensation of unstable environment.

Architect: Jean Nouvel

Status: Finished

Date: 1985 - 1987

Location: Nîmes, France

Photo credit: Philippe Ruault