“The school is located in the middle of an urban block. The challenge here was therefore to realize an extensive building project without disturbing the neighbours and still create sufficient light and visibility for the classrooms”, says Frederik Tomme, project architect at AVDK aRCHITECten. “That's why we opted for a compact building, with the sports hall partly underground. It protrudes one and a half meters above the ground to bring in sufficient daylight. The classrooms stacked on top of the sports hall have been shifted by one and a half floors compared to the classes next to it in a split-level system, creating a spatial relationship between both building volumes.”
Cross-class working
In addition to spaciousness, the pedagogical approach was especially important for the school board. The school wanted to move away from the classic long, narrow corridor with large classrooms on both sides. For this reason, the architectural firm has created a wide corridor that has been designed as an open learning landscape, with the necessary compartmentalisation to maintain good acoustics. In these spaces, the students work together as much as possible, while the time they attend classes in the smaller classrooms is relatively limited. Sliding doors between every pair of classrooms enables co-teaching.
A fresh colour scheme
The building is made of a concrete frame with infill masonry, which was a reason for the architects to go for a light facade material. “The choice for Rockpanel cladding was made quickly made, as the manufacturer offers such a wide range of colours,” says Frederik Tomme. “The facade consists of a number of horizontal, grey strips. Between those strips, we wanted to make the split-level system stand out clearly. We therefore wanted a fresh, striking colour and these shades of green stood out the most. We have also extended the green colour to the entrance zone, where we have worked with green glass.”