In Situ (Jul 2021)
Le lycée Victor-Louis de Talence (Gironde) dans le contexte des établissements scolaires aquitains
Abstract
The thematic inventory operation of the high schools extends all over the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region of France. It comprises all the public high schools, with a corpus of 290 institutions (156 in Aquitaine, 92 in Poitou-Charentes et 52 in Limousin). In ex-Aquitaine (5 departments), the inventory started in 2016, carried out then by Laetitia Maison-Soulard, creator of the operation “Histoires de Bahuts”, “School Stories”. One of the largest high schools of Aquitaine, the lycée Victor-Louis of Talence (Gironde department), was considerably enlarged during the “Trente Glorieuses”, the thirty years of post-war economic growth in France. Period par excellence of the serial architecture, which the historical context imposed, the early 1960’s also created opportunities for some architects to construct “tailor-made” buildings. Pierre Mathieu supervised the construction of the lycée of Valence from 1949, even before it was extended. From a country house used as an annexe to the lycée Montaigne of Bordeaux, P. Mathieu has gradually created a modern educational institution until the dawn of the 1970’s. He hired two artist friends: Joseph Rivière then Pierre Boissonnet who worked within the 1% for Art programme or to bring the decorative addition to the architectural constructions. Mathieu, Chief architect of the “bâtiments civils et des palais nationaux”, the Civil buildings and National Palaces, major builder at Bordeaux, did he strictly apply the theories learned at the “academic” School? Was he thus a follower of architectural styles that were in trends at a time, for example the international style? In any case, he probably strived to fully satisfy to the order.
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