'Sint-Joost-aan-Zee' Primary School Sint-Joost-ten-Node


Kathleen Mertens & Bas

  • Status:

    Realized

  • Education type:

    Municipal Education

  • Education level:

    Primary Education (pre-school + primary)

  • Address:

    Grensstraat 67, 1210 Sint-Joost-ten-Node

  • Client:

    Municipality of Sint-Joost-ten-Node

  • Keywords:

    Masterplan, Community school

  • Programme:

    phase 1: classrooms, multimedia room, room for pupil guidance, administration, exercise hall, outdoor classrooms (roof)

  • Area:

    renovation: 1789m2
    extension: 759m2

  • Number of classrooms:

    20 (phase 1)
    5 (phase 2)


Making a 19th century school building ready for after-school use

The 19th-century building is a typical school with a centrally covered courtyard between two parallel wings with classrooms. The commission to extend this school building resulted in an additional floor. The roof was replaced with a complete new level with seven classrooms. The classrooms were arranged in a herringbone pattern in order to create extra open spaces. This resulted in four roof terraces the size of a classroom which can be used as a playground or as an open air classroom. The inner corridor meanders around the two central classrooms. This space invites contact between the classrooms and is sufficiently large to allow for group work and for classes to work together.

The light which enters the courtyard is hampered by the new top floor, but the designers found a solution by placing new vertical window openings in the side wall. These provide light and a view over the garden of the former headmaster’s home. The classrooms on the roof level are connected to the original building with three staircases. The main staircase is an extension of the existing staircase to the gallery of the courtyard. The second staircase is in the centre of the media area, which stretches over two floors. This staircase turns up and round a tall bookcase. The third staircase is an external staircase which also serves as a fire escape.

The external staircase and the elevator next to it mean that the whole roof floor can be accessed separately through the garden and the service entrance of the old headmaster’s house in the Gillonstraat. In this way the whole top floor, which has a rather individual character, can easily be used separately by the neighbourhood after school hours.