Creating a dialogue with the landscape
In designing the new Mirabel Secondary School, the project team wanted to create a dynamic and active learning environment for students, while allowing the community to benefit from a renewed environment adapted to human needs.
Located in the Saint-Augustin sector, the new school benefits from the proximity of a wooded area and an agricultural zone, as well as a future aquatic center and a new baseball field. This unique location helps create a true community around the new building.
Facing a creek and surrounded by fields, the school is anchored to the territory by establishing a dialogue between the landscape and the first two floors of the building, both largely fenestrated so that the spaces are bathed in natural light. An entrance on the first floor welcomes students arriving by school bus, while a garden welcomes students arriving by bicycle or on foot from the adjacent residential area. Once inside, students can make the space their own by converging at the heart of the school, a lively space open to the nature a step away from its doors.
This school is part of a group of four new innovative high schools that will be built in Chambly, LaSalle, Mirabel and Laval. The creation of a unique architecture, adapted to each of their respective environments, transforms the schools into places that promote collaboration, openness, learning and pride for students, teachers and visitors. More than a place of learning, these schools become places of dialogue, and spaces open to their environment. This new generation of high schools is a first step towards the school of tomorrow, reinforcing the role of the school as a community player.
