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Michel Mailliard, adj. principal KTA Dendermonde

Parts of the school were pavilions of the World Expo. They were put here temporarily, but stayed for 50 years. Another part was an army hospital from the 19th century. We had single glazing and high ceilings, which led to enormous heating costs. The school needed at least one heating oil tanker every two weeks. With the current prices that's untenable.

Herman Jult, BURO II

We made the choice of building very compactly. We're also building on a very important historical site. We have a lot of lovely outside spaces. Compact building is not only important for energy and ecology aspects, but also for the use of space on the entire site.

Voice Over

KTA Dendermonde wants more than only new buildings: All classrooms and workshops, now spread all over Dendermonde, will be centralized on one campus. A financial operation that can't be realized in one go. A master plan offers a solution. The contractors will complete the project in 3 or 4 stages, depending on the money available. This way, an enormous and expensive building project becomes feasible.

Herman Jult, BURO II

The first stage is a compact building with a courtyard. That's linked to energy housekeeping and ventilation. It also has to create visibility from classrooms and corridors towards outside. It brings in direct daylight.

The second stage is linked to it, from the same circulations, with a courtyard. You'll see that the courtyard walls are white, the outside walls are dark. One outside wall of the existing building of the first stage is white, since that wall will later become a courtyard wall in the second stage.

The workshops and sports hall are parts of the next stage. This is only a master plan, of course. This was made two years ago but we don't know how it'll be five years from now.

You can see that this building doesn't really form a specific answer to a specific demand of a specific user. They've given us some kind of open framework that can be used in certain ways by several users later. The rooms can be divided into parts, they can be adjusted, and the school board is already doing that. A lot of large rooms which were made to be divided, are now divided into smaller rooms, depending on the school's programme.

You'll see that the windows are uniform. That's to keep the costs low. On the outside you can see divisions referring to possible divisions inside. That's been examined very carefully in advance. We're working on a fixed structure with a rather small or at least controllable span. That allows the construction itself to be made for a limited amount of money.

Michel Mailliard, adj. principal KTA Dendermonde

The students are closer to each other here than in the previous buildings, but they behave more calmly. So, the environment absolutely is a decisive factor. It's new, which certainly commands respect. On the other hand I suspect that the buildings radiate some tranquillity. And that has an influence on the students.

I want to give headmasters involved in building new schools some advice. Try to include sufficient future plans in the preparations and the designs. Once the school is built, you can't change much anymore.