The Collège Louis-Michel, named after French anarchist

Louise Michel Louise Michel (; 29 May 1830 – 9 January 1905) was a teacher and important figure in the Paris Commune. Following her penal transportation to New Caledonia she embraced anarchism. When returning to France she emerged as an important French a ...

is located in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

at 11 , on the bank of the

canal Saint-Martin The Canal Saint-Martin is a 4.6 km (2.86 mi) long canal in Paris, connecting the Canal de l'Ourcq to the river Seine. Over nearly half its length (), between the Rue du Faubourg du Temple and the Place de la Bastille, it was covered, in the ...

Overview

Collège Louis-Michel is a secondary school of approximately 500 pupils from 11 to 15 years of age. Subjects taught include French, Chinese, German, Latin, Spanish and English. The students are of 20 nationalities. The school is classified as " :fr:Zone d'éducation prioritaire" (Priority Education Zone) which provides additional financial means and teaching aid.

Construction

The first building was built by the architects Daniel and Lionel Brandon and assisted by Raoul Brandon based on a scheme dating back to 1933. The first stage was completed in July 1937 and the construction was finished in 1939 by Édouard Boegner. A bas-relief realized in 1936 by François Bazin, representing an allegory of education, decorates the facade. In the beginning of the 2000s, the

Departments of France In the administrative divisions of France, the department (french: département, ) is one of the three levels of government under the national level ("territorial collectivities"), between the administrative regions and the communes. Ninety-s ...

wished to restructure and extend the

Collège In France, secondary education is in two stages: * ''Collèges'' () cater for the first four years of secondary education from the ages of 11 to 15. * ''Lycées'' () provide a three-year course of further secondary education for children between ...

to adapt its premises to a capacity of 20 classes, improve the functioning of the cafeteria and increase the playground surface. Therefore, they bought a plot located on the other side of Jean-Poulmarch street for the construction of a second building. The

requested that the

Council of Paris The Council of Paris ( French: ''Conseil de Paris'') is the deliberative body responsible for governing Paris, the capital of France. It possesses both the powers of a municipal council (''conseil municipal'') and those of a departmental counc ...

declassify the street in front of the existing building. As a result, it would be possible to build on-surface in order to provide a link between the 2 parts of the school. In September 2002, a contest was launched for the construction of the new building, the reshuffling of the existing one, and to design a link between the 2 buildings in order to allow easy access for students between the two. However, the original submission did not successfully meet the criteria of linking the two sides of the street. The contest and limitations were deemed a "Critical analysis of an architectural project with counter-proposal" for the "external and internal contest for hiring architects and town planners" organized in 2005 by the Transportation, Equipment, Tourism and Sea Ministry.''External and internal contest for hiring architects and town planners'', 2005, 59 pages, read on-line in French , link= The new guidelines were to: * Prepare a note to the Prefect, while looking into the relevance of the planning, especially the link between the projected construction and the street; * Analyse the architecture and urban project; * Propose modifications or alternative solutions. The project of the Badia Berger firm of Architects was finally successfully agreed and delivered in June 2007. Between 2002 and 2007 the second building was constructed, with a tunnel linking the two parts of the school.

References

External links

Collège Louise-Michel page on ac-paris.fr
{{DEFAULTSORT:College Louise-Michel in Paris Schools in Paris Buildings and structures in the 10th arrondissement of Paris