Located in the Alpes de Hautes Provence, the peaceful town of Riez lives above its archaeological Roman heritage, buried along a former dried-up river. A dilapidated secondary school stands above these ruins. It was built in the 1960?s, at a time when such a heritage was rejected, to the point where it vanished in the depths of the school?s crawl spaces. The restructuring of the school?s functioning and its retrofitting raise the question of the future of these ruins and of their possible enhancement. Due to lack of funding, the project sponsor decided to facilitate access to archaeologists while denying it to the public and to students.

© Julien Lanoo

Architects: Céline Teddé & Jérôme Apack architectes

Location: Rue de l'École, 04500 Roumoules, France
Area: 612.0 m2

Project Year: 2016

Photographs: Julien Lanoo

Client: Conseil départemental des Alpes de Haute Provence

© Julien Lanoo

Text description provided by the architects. Located in the Alpes de Hautes Provence, the peaceful town of Riez lives above its archaeological Roman heritage, buried along a former dried-up river. A dilapidated secondary school stands above these ruins. It was built in the 1960?s, at a time when such a heritage was rejected, to the point where it vanished in the depths of the school?s crawl spaces. The restructuring of the school?s functioning and its retrofitting raise the question of the future o...