How A Canadian School Turns Nature Into A Classroom

2025 Best of Year Winner for Early Education

Students attending Maréchal Secondary School in Mirabel, Canada, enjoy a connection with the surrounding forest and fields on many levels. Collaborating firms Lemay, Leclerc Architectes, and Prisme Architecture oriented and designed the building to maximize natural ventilation, daylight influx, and verdant vistas as well as devising exterior paths and landscaped courtyards for student use and exploration. Timber finishes, biophilic elements, and ample glazing likewise pull the outdoors in. Circulation routes and common spaces were conceived to encourage gathering and interaction—especially in the atrium, with its wavelike linear-plank ceiling and topography of stadium seating offering front-row views of woodland and bioswales. The project leverages the land as a teaching tool, inviting reflection and hands-on study of conservation, water-management stewardship, and climate resilience.

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