– Mass production of orientation cycles revolutionizes school construction in Geneva

– Mass production of orientation cycles starts in Geneva

The school system is in the midst of a revolution. To cope with thousands of new students, construction techniques are being modernized.

Published today at 5:58 p.m.

The Cycle du Marais, in Onex, was built between 1966 and 1968. Here a view of the completed buildings, March 24, 1967. In the foreground, the construction site of the Civil Protection shelter.

M. DESARZENS/BGE-CIG

At the dawn of the 1960s, Geneva was in a state of emergency. World summit in sight, high-risk event? No. Climate, political or financial crisis? You are not there. If time is of the essence, it is for the Department of Public Instruction. And, by extension, that of Public Works.

“From 1962 to 1969, we went from 16 to 284 classes and from 347 to 5,900 students.”

Yvan Delemontey, architect and architectural historian at the Service for the inventory of monuments of art and history

The baby boom passed by. Furthermore, in 1962, the Grand Council took a decision which would precipitate everything. He decides that education will henceforth be compulsory for all children up to the age of 15. We then witness the birth of the Orientation Cycle (OC).

A real tour de force

The fact remains that these new students will have to be welcomed. However, the task promises to be titanic, as new “cities” emerge from the ground in Onex-Lancy (La Caroline), in Meyrin (first satellite city in Switzerland), in Vernier (Le Lignon).

Typical construction of a teaching wing of one of the orientation cycles erected during the 1960s. Here the installation of the facade elements, prefabricated at the Induni & Cie company factory in Bois-de-Bay .

ARCHIVES PRELCO SA

Geneva will take up the challenge. At the CO, “in the space of just seven years, from 1962 to 1969, we went from 16 to 284 classes, from 347 to 5900 students”, underlines the architect and architectural historian Yvan Delemontey in his heritage study on the Marais Orientation Cycle*. “This tour de force was made possible thanks to exemplary planning which provided, between 1961 and 1969, for the rapid and coordinated construction of six secondary schools spread throughout Geneva.”

Built for 700 students

Produced between 1966 and 1968, the Cycle du Marais, at Onex, is therefore one of them. If we mention it, it is because it recently became the first industrialized school establishment listed in the Inventory of Buildings Worthy of Protection (read the text below).

But others have preceded him. First that of Florence, in Conches. Work of the architect Claude Grosgurin (1912-2010), it is a prototype. Built between 1960 and 1962, it is intended for young girls. “At the same time, we built in parallel the COs of Budé, in Petit-Saconnex, between 1963 and 1966, and that of Pinchat, in Carouge, from 1964 to 1966,” explains Yvan Delemontey. Then two others, the Marais, in Onex, and the Golette, in Meyrin, between 1966 and 1968.”

Recent (2022) aerial view of the CO du Marais. We take stock of the location and layout of the different buildings, particularly the two teaching wings.

M. OLIVA

These five school groups, each intended to accommodate around 700 students, are all designed by Claude Grosgurin. A sixth will follow on the same model, the CO du Renard, in Aïre. It was built between 1967 and 1969 by the architect Luc Hermès.

Thanks to heavy prefabrication

This proliferation of new so-called “first generation” orientation cycles could not have emerged so quickly without a particular construction process. We owe it to a French engineer, Jean Barets (1920-1990), who experimented with it during the reconstruction of Le Havre, between 1945 and 1959.

“It consists of prefabricating on site three types of reinforced concrete elements constituting the structural work: facade load-bearing panels with a height of one floor and variable width (from 3 to 6 meters), porticos of two with three bays forming the framework, finally ribbed floor slabs,” mentions Yvan Delemontey.

The Bois-de-Bay prefabrication factory, in Satigny, in 1968.

ARCHIVES PRELCO SA

A factory created in Satigny

In Geneva, Induni & Cie is responsible for adapting this system. Because, given the urgency and the scale of the task, there is no question of erecting this type of construction site, called “fairground”, on each of the sites. The company then installed a fixed prefabrication factory in the Bois-de-Bay industrial zone, in Satigny, where all the components necessary for the construction of the various school buildings would be industrially produced.

Furthermore, “it is also all the components of the finishing work (windows, doors, stairs) and the furniture equipment which are thus standardized and produced in a very large number of copies, which obviously leads to significant economies of scale,” indicates the heritage study.

Diversity will prevail

The six very similar COs are built on the basis of a standard plan which notably includes two large teaching buildings of three levels each. Basically, we imagined that one of these “wings” would be allocated to boys, the other to girls. But already from 1965, this separation of genres gave way to the diversity that we still know today.

The Florence Higher School for Girls, in Conches, built between 1960 and 1962 (here the construction of the gymnastics rooms). This school group served as a prototype for subsequent orientation cycles.

ARCHIVES PRELCO SA

The industrialized design and production unit of these six school groups constitutes a pioneering experience in Switzerland. In the following decades, other orientation cycles as well as several colleges were built in Geneva. Certainly not on the same model, but here too we will choose heavy prefabrication.

A first for the Marais

Of the five orientation cycles designed by Claude Grosgurin in the 1960s, the Marais is the first and for the moment the only one to have been included in the Geneva inventory of buildings worthy of protection.

Two others are, like him, considered “interesting” by the canton’s architectural census (RAC). These are Golette and Pinchat. As for the last two (Budé and the Florence), they are qualified (like the CO of the Fox elsewhere) of “secondary interest”, because they have undergone heavy transformations – this is particularly spectacular concerning Budé – having altered their qualities original.

A recent view of the interior of the CO du Marais. Here a circulation corridor on the second floor.

YVAN DELEMONTEY

Registration in the inventory, which allows the building to be protected but is not as restrictive as a classification measure, does not mean that no transformation can take place, “but if there were to have work, they would be monitored by the Monuments and Sites Service,” indicates Yvan Delemontey.

Many modifications

All these school groups have already experienced changes. Thus, several one-off interventions took place in the Marais. “Some were the subject of requests for building authorizations, for example the partial redevelopment of administrative premises at the end of the 1980s. In 2000, we created a preparation room in the biology area and, in 2001, a training room. additional music has been set up in the hall, as well as a “multimedia workshop” located on the 1st floor of building 2.”

The exteriors have also evolved well. In this regard, we can mention in 2019 the installation of solar panels on the two teaching wings and one of the gymnasiums.

Transformation regrettable

“The main transformation that we may regret is the installation of acoustic panels (sometimes with a fireproof projection) on the ceiling of most teaching premises (classrooms, circulation corridors, etc.), hiding the plasticity and the characteristics of the ribbed floor slab elements,” notes Yvan Delemontey in his heritage study.

Despite these changes – and others – the heritage value of the Marais Orientation Cycle remains very real. According to Yvan Delemontey, it must be measured against the following five criteria: “A new architecture for a new secondary education, a milestone in the history of prefabrication in French-speaking Switzerland, a pioneering and original example of industrialized school architecture , belonging to a series (editor’s note: including the orientation cycles cited above)and finally preserved authenticity.” XL

An idea of ​​the location of the CO du Marais in Onex, thanks to this orthophotograph dated 1969.

SIT

* “The Marais Orientation Cycle at Onex (1966-1968)”, heritage study, Yvan Delemontey, March 2023. Publication: Office of Heritage and Sites of the State of Geneva, Territorial Department.

Xavier Lafargue has been a professional journalist since 1985. After fifteen years spent in sports sections, he opted for local news. He has worked since 2008 in the Geneva section of the Tribune de Genève, a section which he directed for six years before returning to writing.More info

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2023-12-16 17:06:27
#history #Mass #production #orientation #cycles #begins #Geneva