Thomas Argaud,Nicolas Lebert, Alexandre Parent, andNicolas Chanussotare second-year students inthe Arts et Métiers Grande École Programwho participated in the second edition of the Paroi challenge on May 28. They presented their wall solution for housing, which met the following requirements: thermal performance, material durability, low environmental impact, and development of the circular economy. Let's take a look back with them at the deliverables of their project, which is part of their educational program.
A look back at the challenge with the Arts et Métiers team
The four students who represented Arts et Métiers all Arts et Métiers the challenge during thefirst edition. The prototypes were presented to the public in the cloister galleries of the abbey last year. Thomas Argaud, a student in the PT preparatory class, responded to the call for second-year projects posted by Jean-Philippe Costes at the beginning of the school year on the SAVOIR platform. He motivated his classmates to conduct a study in the first semester on the architecture and layout of a new workspace above what was formerly the metrology laboratory in the workshops on the Cluny campus. It was not until mid-January that they actually began their wall design project.
"Presenting our project at the challenge was one of our two deliverables. Although we didn't win a prize at the challenge, we presented our project to our teachers to validate our second year," says Alexandre Parent.
Participating in the challenge allowed us to present our project from a different angle, less academic and more accessible, says Thomas Argaud.
Their solution using cork and cob
Although they were unable to present a prototype because the manufacturing phase was canceled due to the health crisis and lockdown, their wall solution is based on the following materials:
- cork, "For our wall solution, we identifiedAlsabrico, a company that recycles corks to obtain insulation materials."
- cob, made from horse manure and hemp straw. "For these two elements, we planned to work with theNational Stud Farmsfor the first and, for the second, one of the group members has a contact who works on a farm in Creuse (23) that produces hemp for the pharmaceutical industry based on the Millevaches plateau."
"The Paroi 2020 challenge allowed us to discover the various projects submitted by the candidates and to see different points of view and questions on the fields of construction, energy, and the environment, which will be useful to me later on as an engineer," emphasizes Thomas Argaud, who hopes to pursue a double degree with ESTP in civil engineering and construction.
"I enjoyed the wall challenge with the many proposals from students at technical colleges, university institutes of technology, engineering schools, and architecture schools. These different points led me to open my mind to less theoretical and more practical or aesthetic aspects," says Nicolas Lebert of the challenge. He is sensitive to noise pollution issues and applied for expertise in Paris in "3D printing" and Bordeaux inaeronautics.
Alexandre Parent has gained a lot from the experience, even though his area of expertise is robotics, which he will continue to study at the Lille campus. "I am still extremely satisfied, despite the health crisis that has halted production, visits, and meetings."
The Paroi challenge continues amid the health crisis
In May 2019, the Cluny campus hosted the first edition of the PAROI Challenge, led by Jean-Philippe Costes. This year, it was the turn of the Auxerre Civil Engineering, Construction, and Sustainable Housing DUT (University Technical Diploma) program to provide the arena for the new 2020 challengers. The health crisis prevented them from defending their projects in person or creating prototypes, but the students involved since November 2019 were happy to present their solutions to the jury members.
Share solutions among students who will be working together.
This cross-disciplinary project in building techniques is unique in that it brings together teams of students (6) from different levels of education:
- DUT (University Technical Diploma) in Civil Engineering, Construction, and Sustainable Housing from Auxerre and Belfort,
- BTS Wood Construction and Sustainable Housing Cormaranche-en-Bugey,
- Arts et Métiers Grande Ecole Program at the Arts et Métiers campus Arts et Métiers Cluny
- Bachelor of Engineering in Civil Engineering from Bordeaux
- European School of Arts and Crafts in Albi and the National School of Architecture in Toulouse
We hesitated for a long time about whether to continue with this challenge, but the students' results exceeded expectations, to such an extent that the jury members are frustrated not to see the prototypes, explains Jean-Philippe Costes.
Exceptional year, exceptional results
Due to the context and the quality of the challengers' proposals, the jury members, consisting ofRaphaël Menard, Arts et Métiers engineer Arts et Métiers eco-designer, Françoise Chaudrillier, Praxibat trainer,Martin Millot, Designer, andLaurence Treiber, Product Manager at FBT Isolation, decided to award three prizes instead of the two originally planned.
This year's winners are:
- "Pragmatism" Award: Albi/Toulouse for the project – Return to the Earth
- Jury's Choice Award: DUT Bordeaux – TVOG20 Green wall
- "Performance and Innovation" Award: MFR BTS Wood Construction Systems for Housing in Cormaranche-en-Bugey – Promotion of knotweed
"All the candidates were able to meet the objectives and, beyond winning a prize, the aim here is to help them build their career plans. Last year, one of the winning team members decided to continue his studies. He is now a student at ENSTIB and is developing a career plan linked to the use of bamboo in construction," recalls Jean-Philippe Costes.
