An exhibition combining art and architecture that reexamines contemporary approaches to education.
NEWS
Aimed at adults and children alike, the exhibition combines the discovery of extraordinary and inspiring schools across history and territories - from Greater Paris to the whole world - with interactive art installations that suggest new ways of doing school today.
The exhibition is a sensitive, immersive experience: a space where we explore, from a child's point of view, what a school, both dreamed of and desirable, could be.
From classrooms that can be reconfigured ad infinitum, in the open air or in a forest, to spaces, furniture and school games that have been completely rethought, to playgrounds transformed into gardens or farms, the exhibition presents a range of proposals that pave the way for imagining what the “ideal school” might look like.
Exhibition curators
David Dottelonde & Wandrille Marchais, associate founders of Atelier Senzu
Anna Labouze & Keimis Henni, artistic directors of Magasins Généraux
Exhibiting architects
Eugène Beaudouin & Marcel Lods, Behnisch & Partner, Atelier Julien Boidot, Jan Duiker & Bernard Bijvoet, CAUE 75, Compagnie architecture, Construire, Le Corbusier, Croixmariebourdon, Direction de la Voirie et des Déplacements de la Ville de Paris, Escobedo Soliz & Gutarqs, Alain Gamard, Daniel Lombard & Édouard-Marc Roux, Herman Hertzberger, Arne Jacobsen, Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation, Joly&Loiret, Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten, L'Atelier Senzu, Maison du projet de la Ville de Pantin, Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados & GOAA, Florent Nanquette, Richard J. Neutra, Jean Prouvé, Jean Renaudie, Paul Rudolph, Hans Scharoun, Damien Surroca Architectes, Takaharu+Yui Tezuka Architects, Ville de Rosny-sous-Bois, Walter Spickendorff, WonKy, WORKac, Yamazaki Kentaro Design Workshop, Ayla-Suzan Yöndel & Tomi Ungerer
Artists and designers exhibited
Sonia Chiambretto with Thibaut Langenais, POP program at Passerelle - center d'art contemporain, Brest, Carlota Sandoval Lizarralde, microsillons, Marie Preston, smarin, smarin et Yto Barrada, Thomas Tudoux
June to October 2025 - Exhibition “Ideal school”
Exhibition presented from June 21 to October 12, 2025
Magasins Généraux, 1 Rue de l'Ancien Canal, 93500 Pantin, France
Conceived and produced by the Magasins Généraux and the Pavillon de l'Arsenal, the exhibition “L'école idéale” invites us to reinvent the elementary school, whose architectural and pedagogical model has changed little in over a century. By exploring the innovative alternatives offered by architects, artists and designers, the exhibition invites us to reconsider educational and school concepts that are deeply rooted in the collective imagination.Magasins Généraux, 1 Rue de l'Ancien Canal, 93500 Pantin, France
Aimed at adults and children alike, the exhibition combines the discovery of extraordinary and inspiring schools across history and territories - from Greater Paris to the whole world - with interactive art installations that suggest new ways of doing school today.
The exhibition is a sensitive, immersive experience: a space where we explore, from a child's point of view, what a school, both dreamed of and desirable, could be.
From classrooms that can be reconfigured ad infinitum, in the open air or in a forest, to spaces, furniture and school games that have been completely rethought, to playgrounds transformed into gardens or farms, the exhibition presents a range of proposals that pave the way for imagining what the “ideal school” might look like.
Exhibition curators
David Dottelonde & Wandrille Marchais, associate founders of Atelier Senzu
Anna Labouze & Keimis Henni, artistic directors of Magasins Généraux
Exhibiting architects
Eugène Beaudouin & Marcel Lods, Behnisch & Partner, Atelier Julien Boidot, Jan Duiker & Bernard Bijvoet, CAUE 75, Compagnie architecture, Construire, Le Corbusier, Croixmariebourdon, Direction de la Voirie et des Déplacements de la Ville de Paris, Escobedo Soliz & Gutarqs, Alain Gamard, Daniel Lombard & Édouard-Marc Roux, Herman Hertzberger, Arne Jacobsen, Andrés Jaque / Office for Political Innovation, Joly&Loiret, Korteknie Stuhlmacher Architecten, L'Atelier Senzu, Maison du projet de la Ville de Pantin, Andrade Morettin Arquitetos Associados & GOAA, Florent Nanquette, Richard J. Neutra, Jean Prouvé, Jean Renaudie, Paul Rudolph, Hans Scharoun, Damien Surroca Architectes, Takaharu+Yui Tezuka Architects, Ville de Rosny-sous-Bois, Walter Spickendorff, WonKy, WORKac, Yamazaki Kentaro Design Workshop, Ayla-Suzan Yöndel & Tomi Ungerer
Artists and designers exhibited
Sonia Chiambretto with Thibaut Langenais, POP program at Passerelle - center d'art contemporain, Brest, Carlota Sandoval Lizarralde, microsillons, Marie Preston, smarin, smarin et Yto Barrada, Thomas Tudoux
PUBLICATION
What if architecture, art, and design could help revitalize schools? For two centuries, schools have been governed by standards: rectangular classrooms, side corridors, asphalt playgrounds, and standard materials. As a place where learning and socialization begin, schools should be constantly reinventing themselves. Architects, artists, designers, and thinkers are pooling their ideas to propose a dream school, where every element—from the surroundings to the classroom, from the covered playground to the recreation yard—is explored as a space for emancipation and invention.
An atlas of architectural references gleaned from history and around the world illuminates this reflection: from the visionary schools of yesterday to contemporary experiments that reexamine the relationship between pedagogy and architecture. Projects by artists and designers provide a counterpoint and suggest new ways of teaching today, more attentive to children's bodies and personalities. Finally, writings and interviews with renowned teachers and researchers shed light on this constellation.
An atlas of architectural references gleaned from history and around the world illuminates this reflection: from the visionary schools of yesterday to contemporary experiments that reexamine the relationship between pedagogy and architecture. Projects by artists and designers provide a counterpoint and suggest new ways of teaching today, more attentive to children's bodies and personalities. Finally, writings and interviews with renowned teachers and researchers shed light on this constellation.
Éditions du Pavillon de l’Arsenal, June 2025
Edited by L’Atelier Senzu with Anna Labouze and Keimis Henni
Book and exhibition created and co-produced by the Pavillon de l’Arsenal and the Magasins Généraux
Guest authors: Anne-Marie Châtelet, Sara de.Gouy, Anna Heringer, Herman Hertzberger, Madeleine Masse, Philippe Meirieu, and Alexandre RIbeaud
Edited by L’Atelier Senzu with Anna Labouze and Keimis Henni
Book and exhibition created and co-produced by the Pavillon de l’Arsenal and the Magasins Généraux
Guest authors: Anne-Marie Châtelet, Sara de.Gouy, Anna Heringer, Herman Hertzberger, Madeleine Masse, Philippe Meirieu, and Alexandre RIbeaud
Graphic design: Studio Charles Villa
17 x 24 cm - 208 pages - French
Price: €24
ISBN: 978-2-35487-082-9
© Pavillon de l’Arsenal June 2025
THE TEAM
L’Atelier Senzu, Wandrille Marchais & David Dottelonde, architects
Since 2014, L’Atelier Senzu has proudly engaged in a workshop-based working culture. This is the teaching system which trained its collaborators and the professional system towards which they strive. The workshop is a place for discussion, for highlighting the strengths and skills of each individual while working together on achieving a collective project.
Climate change and the increased scarcity of resources, the financial downturn and the standardization of spaces, the increased requirements of project managers and restrictive regulations: L’Atelier Senzu constantly challenges its way of doing architecture and is on the lookout for alternatives to energy-consuming and polluting materials, both by developing new innovative processes and by reconsidering older techniques.
ORIGINS OF THE PROJECT
“The ‘(re)FAIRE classe en extérieur’ project aims to support an alternative outdoor pedagogy that is beneficial to child development in our times of health crisis. The initiative has two objectives: first, to relieve congestion within schools and ensure higher levels of security from a healthcare standpoint; second, to concurrently offer a new outdoor teaching aid.
Today’s Parisian schools continue to follow Jules Ferry’s 1881 template, which was devised with basic universal primary education in mind. They present the same formal characteristics as in the nineteenth century though teaching methods have significantly evolved. Moreover, from a health perspective, school facilities have a non-expandable surface area and a high number of students, and are therefore not ideal for holding classes in complete safety.
Primary schools have large playgrounds that are virtually unused for much of the day however.There lies considerable potential for renewing the educational system and opening up learning to the outside world.
In this overall context, we want to deploy an outdoor class based on a prophylactic architecture. The diversity of Parisian schoolyards requires imagining not one single universal solution, but three variations. Depending on the number of trees that are present or the size of the courtyard, the outdoor classroom could take the form of a light roof construction, an amphitheatre ground, or even sheltered, modular furniture.”
17 x 24 cm - 208 pages - French
Price: €24
ISBN: 978-2-35487-082-9
© Pavillon de l’Arsenal June 2025
THE TEAM
L’Atelier Senzu, Wandrille Marchais & David Dottelonde, architects
Since 2014, L’Atelier Senzu has proudly engaged in a workshop-based working culture. This is the teaching system which trained its collaborators and the professional system towards which they strive. The workshop is a place for discussion, for highlighting the strengths and skills of each individual while working together on achieving a collective project.
Climate change and the increased scarcity of resources, the financial downturn and the standardization of spaces, the increased requirements of project managers and restrictive regulations: L’Atelier Senzu constantly challenges its way of doing architecture and is on the lookout for alternatives to energy-consuming and polluting materials, both by developing new innovative processes and by reconsidering older techniques.
ORIGINS OF THE PROJECT
“The ‘(re)FAIRE classe en extérieur’ project aims to support an alternative outdoor pedagogy that is beneficial to child development in our times of health crisis. The initiative has two objectives: first, to relieve congestion within schools and ensure higher levels of security from a healthcare standpoint; second, to concurrently offer a new outdoor teaching aid.
Today’s Parisian schools continue to follow Jules Ferry’s 1881 template, which was devised with basic universal primary education in mind. They present the same formal characteristics as in the nineteenth century though teaching methods have significantly evolved. Moreover, from a health perspective, school facilities have a non-expandable surface area and a high number of students, and are therefore not ideal for holding classes in complete safety.
Primary schools have large playgrounds that are virtually unused for much of the day however.There lies considerable potential for renewing the educational system and opening up learning to the outside world.
In this overall context, we want to deploy an outdoor class based on a prophylactic architecture. The diversity of Parisian schoolyards requires imagining not one single universal solution, but three variations. Depending on the number of trees that are present or the size of the courtyard, the outdoor classroom could take the form of a light roof construction, an amphitheatre ground, or even sheltered, modular furniture.”
