Atheneum Boom


360 architecten

Atheneum Boom (enlarged view in image gallery)

Photos: 360 architecten, Atheneum Boom

  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
  • Atheneum Boom
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  • Status:

    Realized

  • Education type:

    GO! Education of the Flemish Community

  • Education level:

    Secondary Education

  • Address:

    Jean-Baptiste Davidstraat 2, 2850 Boom

  • Client:

    GO! Education of the Flemish Community

  • Keywords:

    School grounds

  • Programme:

    CLB: entrance, reception, archive, meetingroom, informative library, waiting room, changing rooms, medical cabinet, biometrics, offices, staff room, toilets, storage, technical rooms Atheneum Boom: toilets, entrance, library, dining area, cycle & motorcycle storage

  • Area:

    1030m2

  • Completion:

    2011


Rejuvenated by new wing and green playground

The domain of the Koninklijk Atheneum comprised, apart from the brick school building, also two steel pavilions that were completely worn-out and broken-down. This place along the Edgard Tinelstraat needed a new wing containing a dining area and multimedia centre, as well as an independent building for the Pupil Guidance Centre (CLB - Centrum voor Leerlingenbegeleiding). The old atheneum buildings are characterised by a structure of closed wings of two fl oors under a saddle roof, arranged in a U-shape around a paved playground. The school forms a building block between four streets surrounded by a strip of green front garden. The caretaker’s house is organically integrated into the school site.

The CLB’s offi ces and doctors’ offi ces had to be incorporated into the new construction, but also had to form a separate entity accessible from the outside to visitors and pupils from other schools. 306 Architecten won the Open Call by proposing an austere yet challenging wing that forms a valuable extension and fi nal segment of this school building, and that grants the school an open and accessible character. It is a low wing, with a higher end accommodating the CLB. The low slimline building hems up the fourth side of the playground, but at the same time it still lets the sun shine abundantly on the playground.

The dining area and the multimedia centre form the main part of the programme, and are sunken compared to the ground level of the playground and the street. This sunken level gives a pleasant feeling in the perception of this space, which is also enhanced by the large windows on both sides of the dining area. The building thus becomes actually transparent. Pupils both in the dining area and on the playground can be easily seen from the street. As a result, school life, which so far hid behind the closed fronts of the old building, has now become visible to the neighbourhood at this renewed back side. The new building does not only want to create visual openness towards the neighbourhood. The multi-purpose dining area can also be used after school hours, which is why a separate entrance is provided at the street side.

Like any other secondary school, this atheneum has a substantial need for cycle parking spaces. These cycle parking spaces put quite some pressure on the space that is available on the school grounds. The proposal to organise the cycle parking spaces on roof of the dining area and the multimedia centre is a progressive one, and the users appreciate the reduced visibility of the messy accumulation of bicycles which is thus realised.

The new construction also encouraged the school to revise the paved playground. 360 Architecten designed a large lawn with three trees. This is an unprecedented transformation of what was once a concrete jungle.