A carefully considered masterplan for the campus interweaves a contemporary and future-oriented educational infrastructure with its historical heritage. The project includes a complete restructuring of the campus, in which elements such as renovation, restoration and new construction come together to create a coherent whole. The starting point is the historical square structure of the adjacent Hollands College. Thanks to its restoration, all school wings of the campus are better connected to each other.
One of the core ideas of the design is the attention to daylight and sight lines. By keeping the ground floors free and introducing transparent facades, the enclosed courtyards receive light and air, which not only improves the visibility, but also the comfort and well-being of its users. The spatial interventions create a lively, inviting learning environment in which flexibility is key.
A crucial aspect of the masterplan is the introduction of a new, robust and compact school wing that functions as the ‘final piece’ of the building complex. This wing completes a closed loop, which significantly improves the internal circulation on campus and enables a horizontal operation. The design connects the historic and new parts of the campus on a functional and aesthetic level. The strategic placement of this new building has created an efficient spatial layout, which creates valuable open space on the campus.
The changing pedagogical needs are also taken into account. For example, the new building was designed to enable different forms of education, including co-teaching and cross-class teaching. This is supported by flexible learning environments and multifunctional spaces that can be adapted to different educational situations and group sizes. The broad school concept stimulates synergies between different programs, with both the permanent users and external organisations.
The campus, which borders the Dijle, has once again been strongly connected to the city through the design. The redevelopment of the riverbank, with a green walking and cycling path, strengthens the integration of the campus into the urban fabric. The U-shaped, protected old school complex around the rectangular playground is, as originally, once again provided with lime trees as a respectful restoration of its historic setting. These landscape interventions not only provide a pleasant outdoor space for the school, but also emphasise the sustainable ambitions of the project.