Above a brook. At the edge of a wood. The bucolic landscape that is home to the crèche Les écureuils presents a range of perspectives that Goffart Pollomé Architectes have used to compose their narrative. The oblong building is topped by a pleated roof. At once a shelter and a source of natural light, the roof makes the most of its environment by orienting the project’s different sequences towards nature.

In Lodelinsart, a municipality of Charleroi, the associative crèche is located on an enclosed parcel, a small valley dug in an artificial topography, bracketed by an inhabited hillside on one side and a wood planted on an embankment on the other. A canalized and partly buried watercourse traverses the site lengthwise. The architects managed to give shape to these singularities in the volume of the building, such as the symmetry and its multiple sides, which are the result of the reinterpretation of a house typology spread around the site. But first of all, to anchor the construction it is necessary to use a stretched form in which it is possible to articulate all of today’s needs. Initially intended for 36 children, the crèche remains flexible and can accommodate more children. Its modular design lets it evolve easily and the regularity of its layout allows for future expansion and even a complete conversion.