Provincial Institute for Technical Education Stabroek


Georges Baines en Architectenburo Jef van Oevelen

  • Status:

    Realized

  • Education type:

    Provincial Education

  • Education level:

    Technical Secondary Education

  • Address:

    Laageind 19, 2940 Stabroek

  • Client:

    Provincial Government of Antwerp

  • Keywords:

    Masterplan


Clear structure for an expanding campus

Stabroek, a typical village consisting of one main street, lies on the borders of the polders of the Scheldt and the Noorderkempen. The Provincial Institute for Technical Education (Provinciaal Instituut voor Technisch Onderwijs) (PITO) is located here. The school, which has been a familiar sight in the polder landscape since 1926, has been systematically extended over the years. The first buildings were designed by the architect Georges Baines; all the more recent buildings were designed by the architect’s office of Jef Van Oevelen.

The extensions took place along the network of roads which provide access to the more distant plots in the polder from the public highway. The PITO campus uses this perpendicular system of roads as the structuring element for its masterplan. The streets divide up the campus into a number of built-up plots next to open spaces, which are used for sports fields, greenhouses and horticultural plots. The main axis, planted with trees, runs to the fields behind and also serves as a cycle path to neighbouring hamlets. The building areas leave sufficient open space to provide room for various building programmes over time. Because of the structuring effect of the roads, these different functions all have a clear address. The roads and the open space of the playgrounds form the collective space, the streets and squares of the campus.

The perpendicular system of axes, the result of the geometry of the polder landscape, repeatedly proved its usefulness whenever the school was extended, whether this involved adding a new block of classrooms or building workshops, or garages, or storage for equipment or machinery. The simplicity of the basic plan remained clearly identifiable and can easily be used for different purposes. The school also solved the problem of parking and pupil transport by building a roundabout for the buses on its own site.

Through the location of the corridors and windows, the architecture of the buildings responds to the outdoor environment. They follow the rhythm of orthogonal pattern outside, and are always perpendicular or parallel to the roads. The corridors and windows in the various buildings provide visual contact with the streets and the playgrounds. They offer beautiful views over the surrounding landscape. The same idea was adopted at every stage of the building campaign in the school. The old and the new are unfailingly fitted next to, against and into each other, always devoting attention to the views over the surrounding area. The result is an attractive campus where it is easy to know where you are and find your way about.