From prison to a place of learning and freedom
An architectural vision serving a humanist project
More than an architectural conversion, Saint-Paul Campus embodies UCLy's humanist vision of higher education, founded on the transmission of knowledge, solidarity and dialogue across generations. Its design is based on five guiding principles:
• preserving an outstanding architectural heritage;
• opening the campus to the city while encouraging a diversity of uses;
• fostering interaction between students, local residents, businesses and community organisations;
• designing environmentally sustainable buildings in line with the sustainable development ambitions of Lyon's Confluence district;
• creating learning environments that support innovative teaching and collaborative learning.
Designed with Sustainability in Mind
Environmental performance has been a key consideration throughout the redevelopment of both sites. The campus combines groundwater heating and cooling, a biomass heating plant, solar hot water production, green roofs and high-performance low-energy buildings. The large bioclimatic glass roof, designed as a "cold greenhouse", also contributes to the thermal comfort of the campus.
The Saint-Joseph site is based on the same model, with the installation of a wood-fired boiler room for the production of heating and thermal energy, a solar-thermal-energy production plant, the implementation of green roof terraces, and high energy performance (BBC) throughout the islet.
A campus designed for innovation and entrepreneurship
Innovation is one of the defining features of Saint-Paul Campus. Students have access to spaces designed to experiment, develop projects and collaborate with academics, researchers and business partners in an environment that encourages creativity and entrepreneurship.
Facilities supporting entrepreneurship include:
• The CUBE incubator, providing individual workspaces, meeting rooms and coworking facilities for student entrepreneurs.
• A co-design room equipped with interactive technologies to support collaborative project development and collective intelligence methods.
• A dedicated partnership space promoting exchanges between students, researchers and partner organisations.
More than a campus : a humanist learning environment
In keeping with UCLy's educational mission, Saint-Paul Campus places personal development alongside academic excellence. Community engagement, sport, culture, international openness and human formation are integral parts of the student experience.
Students benefit from:
• A student association hub bringing together around thirty student organisations;
• A sports hall open to students and university staff;
• Spaces dedicated to music, performances and cultural events;
• The Equal Opportunities Programme, providing additional scholarships based on academic merit and social criteria.
State-of-the-Art teaching and research laboratories
For more than seventy years, UCLy's science programmes have combined academic excellence with close links to industry and professional practice. Today, the Faculty of Science and Health benefits from teaching and research facilities that support both student learning and scientific research.
• 12 teaching laboratories: 3 for microbiology, 3 for biochemistry, 3 for chemistry, and 3 for biology, equipped with the latest analytical equipment to promote student learning (microscopes, balances, spectrophotometer, fume hoods, incubators, and more).
• 3 research laboratories with an animal facility and a cold room, equipped with equipment that places them at safety level P2, thus allowing the handling of pathogens, an essential condition for the development of research within the university.
• The future HUB Biotech, a new facility dedicated to advanced biotechnologies, scheduled to open in 2027.
Designed for contemporary teaching and learning
Saint-Paul Campus has been designed to support contemporary teaching methods. Flexible learning spaces, a Learning Lab, audiovisual production facilities, hybrid teaching technologies and collaborative digital tools provide an environment that adapts to new ways of learning, both on campus and online.
A few examples:
• A 500 m² modular learning space designed for collaborative teaching and group work;
• An audiovisual recording studio supporting hybrid and distance learning;
• Interconnected lecture theatres accommodating conferences for up to 1,000 participants;
• Campus-wide high-density Wi-Fi and BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) connectivity.
"Transforming a prison into a university means transforming a place of confinement into a space of freedom. It means believing that openness to knowledge can help to overcome suffering. It is to develop the capacity for renewal of the territory and of humankind."
Excerpt from the inaugural address delivered by Thierry Magnin, former Rector of UCLy, at the opening of Saint-Paul Campus in September 2015.
Saint-Paul campus: 36,000 m²
- Faculty of Law, European and International Political Studies
- Faculty of Economics and Management
- Faculty of Science and Health
- 19 amphitheatres with 60 to 500 seats (1,000 seats in full duplex configuration)
- Continuing Education Centre
- IT services
- Language Centre
- Teaching Spaces
- Exhibition Spaces
- Cafeteria
- Sports Facilities
- Student Life Facilities
Saint-Joseph district: 25,000 m²
- 10,000 m² of office space
- 90 owner-occupied housing units
- 700 m² of retail space
- 65 social housing units
- 108 student rooms
- 25 housing units for elderly or vulnerable residents
- Offices of the HABITAT and HUMANISM Foundation
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Founded in 1875, UCLy (Lyon Catholic University) has been shaping minds and inspiring generations for 150 years. Rooted in the humanist tradition, the University combines academic excellence, openness to the world and a commitment to serving society.