127af Turns a French Schoolyard's Asphalt into Planted Hills

A 1,600-square-metre asphalt schoolyard south of Paris has become a planted landscape with a seven-bay timber canopy, built on a tight budget from handrail tubing and standard steel beams. The project, completed in 2026 at Paul Bert Elementary School in Itteville, comes from 127af architectes and L'Hydre paysagistes, with Deborah Feldman and Baptiste Potier as lead architects.

The original yard was entirely paved. It offered little shade and few options beyond ball games. Workshops run with pupils by the CAUE de l'Essonne, the departmental architecture and environment council, revealed what children actually wanted: vegetation, exploration, movement and quieter places to retreat. With summer heatwaves hitting more often, the architects also had to cut heat buildup and improve outdoor comfort.

A limited budget and a short construction schedule shaped the answer. Each intervention had to do several jobs at once — environmental, spatial and social.

Where did all the asphalt go?

The team didn't truck the excavated pavement off site. They reused it to build a new topography instead. Planted mounds now screen the yard from the street, define play areas and direct rainwater toward vegetation. Removing the impermeable surfaces, combined with new planting and shade, cools the microclimate.

Winding paths and varied ground surfaces open up new ways to move through the yard, while room remains for sports and emergency access.

What do handrails have to do with play?

A continuous system of colorful tubular steel elements runs along the boundaries between planted and mineral surfaces. The tubes are standard handrail stock. They work as protective barriers, seating and play equipment at the same time, and their ambiguous forms push children to invent games and negotiate how to share the space. By offering alternatives to the ball games that dominated the old central courtyard, the project spreads use of the playground more evenly.

The canopy follows the same logic of economy. Its seven bays pair oversized timber columns with standard steel I-beams and metal roofing sheets, joined through simple, legible connections. The curved roof profile comes from bringing the supporting beams closer together, bending the sheets without complex fabrication. Each bay matches the standard sheet length, which minimizes material transformation and waste. The generous columns double as places to hide and play.

The canopy shelters children from rain and sun. Along its edges, rainwater falls freely in a visible curtain — the architects' way of making the water cycle part of everyday experience.

Does the planting change how kids learn?

Approximately fifty trees and one thousand perennials and shrubs bring shade, seasonal variation, edible plants and new habitats. Planted areas sit at the courtyard's lowest points, where they collect rainwater and become spaces for exploration and outdoor learning.

The results, according to the architects, are already visible. Teachers have reported quieter recess periods and fewer injuries since completion. The abstract structures that children found unfamiliar at first have gradually become supports for their own inventions.

The project, published by ArchDaily on October 31, 2026 and photographed by Clément Guillaume, offers a replicable template: simple construction and open-ended forms can turn an overheated asphalt yard into a living landscape suited to a warming climate — and to the diversity of children's needs.