New European Bauhaus Prizes 2023

Initiative category

Identify the award category for which this initiative is being submitted
Reconnecting with nature

Email user
wandrille@lateliersenzu.com

Basic information
Initiative title
A Forest School for Park Joly

Full initiative Title
A Forest School for Park Joly in Semur-en Auxois, France

Please provide a short, catchy description of your initiative to be used in communication towards the public.
Today we are in a new cycle that forces us to rethink our lifestyles and our relationship with the environment. This is also an opportunity to rethink our education.
The proposal aims to install a Forest School designed by an architectural practice in an historical Park in Semur-en-Auxois, France and to support an alternative outdoor pedagogy that is beneficial to child development. Beyond the architectural project, it is an educational project that must be set up.

What was the geographical scope of your intiative?
Local

Where was your intiative implemented?
Member State(s) and Western Balkans
France

If relevant, insert names of region(s)/municipality(ies) involved
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Does your initiative address mainly urban or rural issues?
It addresses urban-rural linkages

Does your initiative refer to a physical transformation of the built environment or other types of transformations (hard or soft investments)?
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)

Has your initiative benefited from EU programmes and/or funds?
No

Has your initiative won an EU prize with a monetary value awarded?
No

Does your initiative has a minimum level of maturity? The minimum level of maturity is exemplified by stakeholder/ initiative promoter commitment to implement the initiative in practice and a clear methodology /approach.
Yes

On whose behalf are you submitting the application?
As individual(s) in partnership with organisation(s)
If you are submitting this intiative as part of a group, please provide the contact details of the other individuals or organisations
- First name: Hubert
  Last name: Bonal
  Gender: Male
  Please describe the type of organization(s) you work in partnership with: Association for the preservation of the gardens and terraces of Semur-en-Auxois
  
  Nationality: France
  Function: President
  Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: 9 rue du champ de foire
  Town: Semur-en-Auxois
  Postal code: 21140
  Country: France
  Direct Tel: +33 6 75 25 77 98
  E-mail: parcjolysemur@gmail.com
  Website: https://www.fondation-patrimoine.org/les-projets/parc-joly-a-semur-en-auxois
Social Media accounts (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.)
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In case my initiative is selected as a finalist of the NEB Prizes 2023, I agree to share the name (individual and/or organisation’s), email address, website and social media accounts indicated above with other NEB Prizes finalists. I also agree to publish the name (individual and/or organisation’s), website and social media accounts indicated above next to the public description of my initiative in the channels of the European Commission.
Yes

How did you hear about the New European Bauhaus Prizes?
New European Bauhaus or European Commission websites

Description of the initiative
Please provide a summary of your initiative
Today we are in a new cycle that forces us to rethink our lifestyles and our relationship with the environment. This is also an opportunity to rethink our education.

The proposal aims to install a forest School in an historical Park in Semur-en-Auxois, in Bourgogne, France and to support an alternative outdoor pedagogy that is beneficial to child development. From September 2022, the Park Joly association has signed an agreement with the city's education authority to run an outdoor class for pupils every Thursday. It is in the pursuit of this experience that the collaboration with L'Atelier Senzu was born to design an architecture facilitating this experience.

Beyond the architectural project, it is an educational project that must be set up. Such a specific initiative is the result of a close and sincere collaboration between a teaching team that knows about these outdoor learning methods and the architectural team.

Today’s French schools continue to follow Jules Ferry’s 1881 model, which was devised with basic universal primary education in mind. They present the same formal characteristics as in the nineteenth century though teaching methods that have significantly evolved. L’Atelier Senzu constantly challenges its way of doing architecture and in this context, the office wants to deploy an outdoor class based on an innovative architecture.

Therefore, in order to create an effective architectural object, iterative work on the volumes, plans and functions of the building must be carried out. This work will offer the children the optimal architectural and pedagogical project allowing them to become responsible citizens and aware of the environment that surrounds them.

A special attention will be paid to the quality of the approach, respecting nature and the environment.

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with 5 key words.
Outdoor learning

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Reconnecting with nature

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Collaborative experimentation

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Relationship between architecture and pedagogy

Please indicate the main themes of your initiative with key words
Rurality

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of sustainability and how these have been/will be met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
The new architecture will be sustainable due to its small footprint, no foundations, light structure, water reuse, dry toilets and local energy production, outdoor kitchen and permaculture practice. The use of local, recyclable materials will be taken into account, as well as the possibility of involving local craftsmen and industries.
By sharing the beauty of nature and promoting knowledge of the living world, the project invites society’s youngest members to be attentive to our unique ecological heritage, which it is up to us to protect.

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of aesthetics and quality of experience for people (through design, positive emotions and cultural benefits) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
We will bring aesthetics where there is none. We will use the vocabulary of the forest to produce a new architecture.

Unlike traditional schools, forest school students move and act more freely. Studies show that communication and expression skills as well as curiosity are strongly developed in children who have gone through forest schools. It has also been found that forest schools have a positive effect on the acquisition of knowledge. By becoming the actors of their learning, by observing and experimenting, the pupils retain better

Please give information about the key objectives of your initiative in terms of inclusion (ranging from accessibility and affordability for all to inclusive governing systems, design for all principles or new societal models) and how these have been met. Please highlight how the initiative can be exemplary in this context.
Inclusion will be ensured by anchoring the project into the territory. A project carried out with local actors and for local users.

Please explain the way citizens benefiting from or affected by the initiative and civil society have been/will be involved in the initiative and what has been/will be the impact of this involvement on the initiative
The project is strictly linked to the participation of the local actors. It is not a simple architecture placed in a park, it is necessary to activate it so that it can be possible. Together with the educators and parents, as well as with the members of the Park association, the project will come to life and live.

Please explain how different stakeholders at various levels (local, regional, national, European) were engaged in the design and implementation of the initiative.
The Park Joly which hosts the project is located in a rural area.

It is a listed park, abandoned for years, which, due to the action of a network of associations, has been open to the public since 2021. The Forest School project is part of an initiative to embellish this nineteenth century garden. In order to create a new relationship between the inhabitants and the park, it was decided to make it a place for education in connection with nature.

The Park is currently undergoing a landscape restoration process, monitored by a landscape architect who is responsible for establishing an inventory of the site and a restoration programme approved by the Bourgogne Franche-Comté Regional Department of Cultural Affairs on a regional scale.
The project will have to meet the expectations of the Region in order to define an architecture in coherence with the existing landscape and to correspond to certain criteria defined by the Region and at the same time to define itself according to the numerous local criteria.

The École des Remparts school that will primarily be using the project will be a partner in the design. The project will have to meet the expectations of its educational team. The entire design will be defined through numerous workshops with teachers, supervisors and pupils, as well as their parents.

Please explain which disciplines and/ or knowledge fields were reflected in the design and implementation of your initiative. Please explain how representatives of these different fields interacted with each other, and what the added value of this process was
The key element in the construction of a Forest School is the pedagogy that is applied.

As the project's architects, L'Atelier Senzu is calling on its network of consultants in the field of construction to imagine the first French Forest School designed by architects. This project is in the continuation of a reflection on the link between pedagogy and architecture that L'Atelier Senzu has been carrying out since 2020 thanks to the partnership with Le Pavillon de l'Arsenal in Paris in the frame of FAIRE 2020.

We are convinced that a new school can be imagined and made possible by architects. L'Atelier Senzu has already experimented with a round pavilion to change the standard classroom format. Today, they want to define a new type of equipment for all French schools, in both urban and rural areas. To do this, they questioned various pedagogues and teachers. This exchange will give rise to a new architecture in phase with the specific pedagogy of the Forest School.

The integration with the landscape is an important aspect that requires a meeting with a landscape architect to try to unify the project with the listed site. The last important point is the autonomy of the project in a natural environment. To answer this question, it is necessary to work with technical consultants to create technical devices that allow for the efficient use of resources, energy and waste. A low-tech approach is to be imagined in partnership with engineers in order to respond to these contemporary concerns.

Please highlight the innovative character of the initiative, when compared to mainstream actions in the field of the initiative
Rather than integrate nature into a building, the progress is to integrate architecture into nature. The innovative character is in our project itself. Forest schools are rare in France and none of them were designed by an architect.

Please describe which elements of your initiative could be replicated or transferred to other places, groups of beneficiaries and contexts. This may involve, for example, aspects of the methodology, technology, processes, products, learnings, etc.
We would like to consider this project as repeatable. The site can be self-managed. The use of local materials and local know-how is possible and even recommended. The project is entirely autonomous in terms of energy and resources.

Please describe the methodology or approach used in your initiative.
The methodology of the project consists of :
Analysis of the needs and site constraints
Obtaining administrative authorisation
Design with future users
Budgeting
Construction
Use and possible evolution of the project if necessary

Please explain what kind of global challenges the initiative addresses by providing local solutions
The ecological issue is a global concern; educating children about ecology from a young age, in their daily and local lives, will enable them, we hope, to become more aware of and respectful of the climate issues of the future.

Please detail the scope of progress in the implementation of the initiative. This can include already demonstrated results/outputs related to the chosen Prizes category, and the already achieved benefits from the initiative for direct and indirect beneficiaries. This can also include a development plan of the initiative, with a particular attention to the steps envisaged in the year following the application, and including envisaged results and benefits from the initiative
The aim is to create an architectural project that benefits children and their parents.
The Forest School seeks to improve the children's cognitive faculties. The complexity of the natural environment requires the child to react to new situations and to develop adaptability.
The long-term strategy is to increase the duration and frequency of the nature experience. At the beginning, one day is necessary for the class to change its habits. Then, thanks to the dry toilets, the kitchen, the storage space and the sleep area, our installation allows for sustainable outdoor activity. Thus, the class will be able to spend 100% of the time in the forest.
The objective is also to ritualise this experience and to encourage other schools to imitate the École des Remparts of Semur-en-Auxois by making this practice permanent.
We want our project to set an example and allow the Region to diffuse this new pedagogical practice, which is recognised in the North of Europe but not in France.
The town of Semur-en-Auxois and the region will also benefit from a National and International Reputation. More generally, the emphasis will be placed on the development of new practices in order to raise public awareness of societal changes.
By activating this project, we want to show the capacity of architecture to produce and follow the evolution of society.

Please provide documents that demonstrate the maturity level of the initiative and commitment to implement the initiative in practice (e.g.: evaluation report, final or mid-term initiative report, certification, publications, building permit, grant agreement, letter of support, partnership agreement, etc.)
PDF
PDF
- pdf-1-27483.pdf
If relevant, please describe how your initiative contributes to developing new competences, especially in the context of the European competence framework on sustainability.
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Please attach at least 6 high resolution images or visual representations of your initiative to your application.
If you would like to upload additional documentation, please upload or write below.
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By submitting your application you confirm that you are the copyright owner of the images provided and that they can be used by the European Commission for the purposes of promoting the New European Bauhaus on all platforms (websites, print, social media and other).
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that you are not in in one or more of the exclusion situations foreseen under Article 136 of the Financial Regulation.
Yes

By submitting this application, I declare that I am not related to the entities subject to EU restricted measures under Article 29 of the Treaty on the European Union (TEU) and subject to Article 215 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the EU (TFEU)1, and entities covered by Commission Guidelines No 2013/C 205/05), which are not eligible to participate in any capacity.
Yes

By ticking this box, you declare that all the information provided in this form is factually correct, that you assume sole liability in the event of a claim relating to the activities carried out in the framework of the contest, that the proposed initiative has not been proposed for the New European Bauhaus Prizes in any other category or strand and that it has not been subject to any type of investigation, which could lead to a financial correction because of irregularities or fraud.
Yes

By submitting your application, you guarantee that you are the author or have the rights to proceed with the application and to authorise the use of the initiative and that you have obtained any necessary consents, licenses or assignments from third parties and included copyright notices when necessary
Yes

By submitting your application, you understand that all the applications that meet the eligibility requirements will be shared for the purposes of the selection processes, and notably published on the secured platform prizes.new-european-bauhaus.eu and for the purposes of the promotion of these on the New European Bauhaus website and/or other European Commission communication channels. In this sense, the applications would be widely available. Applicants should ensure that they present their initiatives, initiative, in such a way that they could be shared without giving rise to intellectual property related concerns. If your submission is selected as one of the finalists, it will additionally be shared for the purpose of the public vote that will take place. The European Union is granted a licence to use and share your application with the general public and the official external experts for the purposes of the selection process, including the voting. The European Union has the right to use the images and visual materials and the description provided in the application for communication purposes related to the contest and beyond. Rights granted comprise the right to store, reproduce, display, publish and communicate or distribute copies in electronic or digital format, including, but not only, through the internet. Unless you have disclosed your name, the European Commission has no obligation to share your name when using or disseminating your contribution to the public. The European Union cannot be held responsible in case any submitted initiative, initiative is found to infringe third party’s rights. The European Union shall be neither responsible for the use that third parties may do of the applications or related content.
Yes

By submitting your application, you acknowledge that you read and understand that the ‘Guide to Applicants’ of the NEB Prizes 2023, available online in the website of the NEB Prizes 2023, is an integral part of this application form and that it must therefore be observed when completing and submitting your application.
Yes