The new French Lycée François Mitterrand presents itself outwardly as an intact and target volume, which spreads longitudinally across the site. A metal horizontal volume perched on this promontory conforms in its projection the entrance to the school. The complex is linked to the street by a tree-lined boulevard along the entire length of the lot. It is on this avenue that the parking lot for the parents of the students is located.

The new school, which appears as a large and intact volume, is formed internally by several courtyards, with different characteristics, whose communication is always guaranteed by continuous balconies. The courtyards define the playgrounds of the various cycles, besides a central space with a large water mirror where the cafeteria and library are located.

The entrance to the school, also a wide veranda, is divided into two main entrances, one for the primary cycle and the other for the secondary. A sequence of transparencies, made possible by the cafeteria and library halls, announces from the outside the most collective activities of the school. These two large programs interspersed with the water garden – shaded by a pergola – contribute to a pleasant microclimate for the school. The library extends into another veranda at the back, visually related to the future forest garden, which enhances reading activities and outdoor games. The laboratory and the art room share this space, where the same expansion of activities can be explored.

This central core, which also concentrates the staircases, elevator, restrooms, and technical areas, also defines the two large patios of the primary and secondary school. These courtyards, associated with the central block, define the heart of the school. The two patios have the same conformation in their relationship with the indoor areas, but acquire specific characteristics, adapting to the specifics of each age group. The secondary school yard is larger and thus allows for the planting of sizeable trees, important to dose the northern sun. The primary school yard, although smaller, can accommodate the reduced number of students stipulated for this age group. A third playground at the back of the building limits an exclusive play area for the kindergarten children. The kindergarten playground can be accessed directly from the outside if independent access is desired.

The high school space seeks the ideal balance between the desirable continuity of the living spaces and the necessary isolation that daily use requires. Similarly, the project sought to create an ideal proportion between sunny and shaded spaces, with large transitional areas. One can think of the covered circulation and living spaces of the high school as a succession of balconies. The traditional exterior-interior transition space that shaped Brazilian colonial architecture with such grace found a new dimension in modern architecture. And particularly in Brasilia, Oscar Niemeyer’s palaces are built on a re-reading of the traditional verandas, in a series that culminates in the Itamaraty Palace, where the large roof veranda, a unique space, is the grand reception hall.

The administrative area is concentrated in a single block along the primary courtyard. On the opposite side are grouped areas for teachers and reprographics.

The kindergarten children are accommodated on the first floor of the building. The entrance hall (hall d’accueil) opens onto a balcony that separates the elementary school playground from the kindergarten classrooms, with the protection of a small drop of eighty centimeters. Each classroom has a toilet and a transition space designed as a children’s changing room. The classrooms open onto another south-facing balcony that extends, in turn, to the exclusive playground for this cycle. A place of controlled scale and protected from excessive sun.

The school implementation sought to solve the appropriate coexistence between the recreation spaces and the classroom spaces, thus the recreation space of one cycle never faces the classrooms of other cycles, avoiding noise and dispersion problems in the pedagogical areas. The auditorium and the sports area were located in the northern part of the site, generating a very clear sectoring of uses in the project.

The elementary, junior high, and high school classrooms are grouped on the second floor, protected, as stated, from the dynamics of the playgrounds. Although there are physical divisions between the primary and secondary areas, the upper floor avoids the conformation of watertight corridors with the use of internal balconies (under the pergola) and the expansion to the roof garden. All classrooms face outwards, and are also protected from the insolation and excessive luminosity of Brasilia. The rooms facing north and south are protected by perforated metal sheeting, while those facing east and west have balconies and fixed metal shutters.

The ventilation of the classrooms is cross ventilation and uses the internal corridors as plenums. Hence its relationship with the water garden, important to lower the air temperature and ensure humidification.

The individual lockers for the students are built into the thickness of the classroom walls, and this same thickness allows accommodating noise attenuators that ensure cross-ventilation without radiating the internal noise of the classrooms through the corridors.

The balconies upstairs generate living spaces around the water garden, and will be used especially in the hot, dry months. Group rooms can communicate directly with these balconies.

The use of the roof of the first floor block as a living area significantly expands the open spaces, here with a very distinctive character. The unexpected and distant views over the Paranoá lake and the future forest garden of Brasilia are important here.

In the fiftieth anniversary of the city of Brasília, the new Liceu Francês can be a significant reference in the city that became famous for the quality of its architecture.