Explorateurs' Primary School

Sainte-Catherine-de-la-Jacques-Cartier's 550-seat elementary school provides educational services from kindergarten to grade 6. The building has a 4,460 sq.m., two-storey footprint on a site that slopes down to the rear. The architecture features superimposed, longitudinally-organized planes. Facing southwest, the highly fenestrated building comprises two rectangular volumes separated by a central distribution hall and linked by a triangular ball-and-socket joint to the classrooms.

The school has 26 classrooms, i.e. three classes per level, and four kindergarten groups (80 children). The school has a special vocation (sustainable development and technology) and offers a unique range of services within the School Service Center. With a strong focus on nature, well-being and the environment, sports-study programs and extracurricular sports activities are offered. The building has received LEED certification. All occupied spaces have views of the outdoors (biophilia). What's more, all specified materials are contaminant-free for users.