CAMPUS UNESCO KOEKELBERG
EXTENSION AND TRANSFORMATION OF A PRIMARY AND SECONDARY SCHOOL AS EXEMPLARY PROJECT FOR “SCHOOLS OF TOMORROW” | OPEN CALL ORGANISED BY THE FLEMISH GOVERNMENT ARCHITECT, 1ST PLACE
The major challenge for this design question was to face the very large yet hidden potential of the location: a high quality urban environment, a site with a particular topography, and existing buildings with a very usable structural base. The concept focuses on the preservation of the upper parts of the buildings on one hand, combined with a severe and landscape-driven transformation of the relationship between the lower parts of the buildings and the outdoor ground levels surrounding it. Both schools take part in one consistent and flexible composition, and still remain both clearly visible and function as separate entities.
The collective functions are gathered in a central core, following the site’s topography as an articulated landscape, which now holds the potential to transform the perception of the isolated modernist complex into a functional and poetic whole of varied spatial sequences. Confusion and disorientation make place for clearly readable spaces, in order to create a qualitative, flexible, sustainable and economically feasible environment for educational purposes for all ages.
