The subdued elegance of black and white brick walls

Patricia Lejeune / IAM Architectes

Reffye vocational college has been built in a converted barracks within the dense old town in the centre of Tarbes. This development is charcterized by light-coloured rendered masonry with architectonic elements made from black and white bricks.

Geoffroy Sampaolo, associate architect at the IAM agency, said:“ The terracotta materials chosen to make the cladding walls are long perforated bricks with a smooth finish. The colour of the mortar closely matches the two shades of the brick, black and white, in order to reinforce the visual effect of the surfaces which shimmer in the light. All the subtleties of the material come to life when exposed to the sun. These cladding walls protect an insulating envelope made of 140mm thick polyurethane foam. They are the most important part of the environmental quality system of the building and have made it possible to achieve a CEP target of 50 kWh/m2/year. They have also made it possible to make the precast concrete of the external walls visible on the inside.”

REFFYE VOCATIONAL COLLEGE EXTENSION, Tabers, FR - Patricia Lejeune / IAM Architectes - 33 cm perforated brick - from TERREAL range