Passerelle(s) unveils a completely revamped new version of the site

Passerelle(s), a real mediation and digital training tool

Passerelle(s) is a resource site on constructions, architecture from its origins to the present day and on the men and women who designed them. The site is now a mediation and digital training tool accessible to all, intended in particular for future construction professionals, but also for all those interested in construction and architecture, within the framework of an interdisciplinary approach.

A real bridge between two worlds: the professional sphere of building and public works and the cultural heritage field, Passerelle(s) aims to weave meaningful links between construction, history and culture.

Passerelle(s) was launched in 2016 by the BnF, the CCCA-BTP and the BTP PLUS Foundation. The three partners have joined forces to promote access for as many people as possible to the digital collections of the BnF, inscribe the construction trades in universal history and promote the social advancement of young people who are training, in particular through the apprenticeship, to construction trades.

Gateway(s): novelties in terms of ergonomics, graphics and technical architecture

Nearly two million Internet users have visited the Passerelle(s) site since it opened.

Building on this success, the BnF, the CCCA-BTP and the BTP PLUS Foundation wanted to offer a new version of the site, completely revised and enriched. New ergonomics, new graphics, new technical architecture, Gateway(s) is now available on all types of terminals, including on the move.

Passerelle(s), an enriched corpus of resources and images

The new version of Passerelle(s), enriched by feedback from Internet users, in particular construction apprentices, offers new content related to environmental and societal themes: energy transition, environment, sustainable construction, cities and villages to the time of climate change, high-rise buildings, occupational health and safety…

Passerelle(s) has also joined forces with the BDnF project, la Fabrique à BD, awarded in 2021 by the Ministry of Culture and the Ministry of National Education, to offer a new corpus of images around construction.

It includes tools, work clothes, frames and various work situations, related to the building trades and public works. The designers Clément Fabre and Basile Dupin produced 108 illustrations, to allow young audiences to easily tell stories in pictures in the form of digital comics: https://bdnf.bnf.fr/corpus.html

Bridge(s), 4 axes to build bridges between the different fields of knowledge

Passerelle(s) allows Internet users to discover how much the history of buildings merges with the history of humanity, but also how much the construction and public works trades are rich in know-how and culture.

The site is divided into four axes:

• major developments in the trades, techniques and sciences of building and public works;
• major historical events from Antiquity to the present day;
• the history of arts and architecture;
• major literary and non-literary texts.

Passerelle(s), an interdisciplinary educational project between professional culture and general culture

Trainers in general or vocational education in training establishments for construction trades can now go further with their apprentices, in exploring the links between professional culture and general culture, with contextualized resources and numerous interdisciplinary possibilities, in particular the explanation of a masterpiece by appropriating technical terms.

Internet users can also find reference texts on architecture, hundreds of images or videos, anecdotes, geolocate constructions around the world and understand their place in the history of the arts, sciences and techniques.

The iconography of the site comes mainly from the collections of the BnF. The texts have also been written to take into account a young public of Internet users, beyond the public of apprentices in the construction industry to whom Passerelle(s) gives priority.

The visits organized at the BnF for construction apprentices continue

Since the signing of the first partnership agreement between the BnF, the CCCA-BTP and the BTP PLUS Foundation in 2013, more than 230 apprentices in training for construction trades (fluid energy sectors, sanitary installations, thermal installations, carpentry, painting and decoration, masonry, locksmithing-metalwork, electricity, etc., accompanied by their trainers, visited the François Mitterrand and Richelieu sites of the BnF.

32 meetings were thus organised, led by specialists in building maintenance and works, as well as curators and members of the BnF's educational action department. These visits allowed young people to discover the technical heart and the collections of the BnF, often for the first time. They were also able to discuss with construction and collection professionals, allowing them a playful and educational discovery of the institution with a professional interest.

Passerelle(s), a renewed ambition of the three partners

The BnF has been carrying out projects for several years as part of its audience diversification program and also offers online educational resources, mainly intended for teachers. With Passerelle(s), the BnF wishes to enable new audiences to access its cultural offer and its mediation tools, thus giving concrete expression to its desire to make its collections available to the widest possible audience.

The CCCA-BTP makes access for apprentices to general knowledge, by inscribing current construction trades in history, an essential component of the training of construction apprentices.

Passerelle(s) is both a source of information and documentation, but also a real educational tool, making it possible to establish interdisciplinary links. For apprentices in the construction industry, the approach offered by the site, combining general education and vocational education, invites them to rely on the past to better question the present.

Essential themes, such as occupational risk prevention and safety at work, energy transition and eco-construction, can be put into perspective. Passerelle(s) thus offers trainers in general education and vocational education an educational tool, which also allows them to find answers to new practices in a construction sector at the forefront of issues related to environmental changes. , technological and digital. With Passerelle(s), the CCCA-BTP's ambition is also to develop the attractiveness of construction trades among young people, but also the feeling of belonging and pride in the long tradition of construction over the centuries.

The BTP PLUS Foundation, under the aegis of the Fondation de France, aims to support innovative projects promoting the social advancement of young people who are trained in construction trades. It was quite naturally at the initiative of this project, creator of a mediation and cultural training tool, using cutting-edge technologies, capable of attracting young audiences. With Passerelle(s), the Foundation aims to promote the social advancement of young people trained in construction trades.