't Kastanjehuis' Primary School Kooigem


BRIK ontwerpatelier

  • Status:

    Design

  • Education type:

    Municipal Education

  • Education level:

    Primary Education (pre-school + primary)

  • Address:

    Kooigemplaats 23, 8510 Kooigem

  • Client:

    City of Kortrijk

  • Keywords:

    Masterplan, Community school

  • Contest:

    Masterclass

  • Programme:

    masterplan, classrooms, school grounds, renovation of the existing buildings

  • Area:

    new building: 700m2

  • Number of classrooms:

    9 new classrooms


New building sets things straight

The ‘t Kastanjehuis’ primary school and the Kooigem village square together play a central role in the life of the community. Several public services, in particular the public library, the registration department, the police and the parish hall are located on the same site as the school. With all the attendant consequences - the buildings can no longer accommodate the increase in the population of pupils, the buildings are out of date and over the years the various functions have settled on this site in an organic way. There is an urgent need for reorganisation, renovation and new buildings.

In 2007, the town of Kortrijk, in which Kooigem is one of the municipalities, presented a request to the participants in the Master Competition. This ‘competition formula’ is aimed at awarding young, recently graduated designers their first public architectural commission. With his BRIK design studio, Thijs Verfaillie presented a pure masterplan. The various individual structures were given a meaningful and logical place on the site.

The new masterplan can be seen as a T, the nursery school children are given a new home on a plot on the Dottenijseweg, while the new primary school is positioned on the present playground. At the crossroads between the two schools the head teacher’s office is located as a central meeting point in the renovated buildings. The new school site can be seen as stages in a school career: every age group has a clearly defined place.
In the spirit of the masterplan, the BRIK design studio divides the new buildings for the nursery school and the primary school into two independent volumes. The two reflect the same core principles and architectural form, but still manage to meet the specific needs of each school. The new buildings have an almost entirely blind wall which seems like a strange choice at first sight. However, they are the result of difficult urban preconditions, viz. a garden of the neighbours for the primary school and a garage road for the nursery school classes. However, this urban ‘problem’ was amply compensated: the classrooms have large sliding windows which open out onto the playground and the classroom gardens respectively, and vertical light shafts provide the buildings with extra natural and indirect light. The light shafts are also a reminder of the Flemish context, an orderly version of the ‘do-it-yourself’ extensions and annexes in inner city areas. In the primary school classrooms the architect has incorporated folding partition walls so they can be divided into six smaller classrooms.

With this design Thijs Verfailie shows the need and added value of a ‘total concept’, one architect who is familiar with how the school operates and thinks about a coherent spatial solution. In addition, the works are planned in phases in such a way that the school can continue to operate while the work is carried out.