• About us
• Exemplary practices
  • Belgium
  • Abroad
  • Search
• Contact

Marc Belderbos, AAC

Actually, architecture is an incredibly delicate art form. And you can mess up delicate things in a heartbeat.

Voice Over

This primary school in Brussels is close to a multicultural neighbourhood, in between a busy road of the capital and the high-rises in the north.

Marc Belderbos, AAC

We didn't really want to create something special. The location of the school is special of course, in an ocean of noise. That's why, as you can see, we constructed a wall and a second wall, and only then the classrooms where people get lectures. That way the classrooms get an additional acoustic insulation.

Voice Over

The wall and the stairs seem to emerge from the ground, the rising lines resemble geological formations left behind like sediments. And that's no coincidence. The architects see some resemblance between educating people and constructing buildings. Learning is building knowledge, construction. Hence the image of the sedimentation, of the slanting and horizontal lines in the school.

Marc Belderbos, AAC

We also get the idea of layers since we're in the lowest part of Brussels. This is the bottom of the valley, where we... The bottom of a valley automatically makes you think of sedimentation. The building is lying in the city and is connected to the city in that way, rather than rising up in the city or whatever.

Voice Over

Those layers return in the classrooms, where the glass walls contain open cabinets, shelves if you like. It reduces views into the class. All classrooms have different shapes and sizes, as the walls don't have right angles. A philosophical statement.

Marc Belderbos, AAC
 
In a normal class teachers stand right in front of the students. Thanks to the slanting the blackboard is not right in front of the classroom. This changes something in terms of flexibility. Thanks to the slanting it's not such a closed relationship, neither in the room, nor in the group inside.

Voice Over
 
The horizontal lines on the façades have to keep out the sun in summer. On the ground floor, children use them as benches and they can also be found in the multipurpose indoor sports hall.

Karla Gevers, Teacher

I really like this building. I think it's very important we have enough space. It's important to stay in touch with the world, thanks to the huge windows. I still have a feeling of what's happening outside. That's important. I like being here. And that's not mainly thanks to the accommodation as such, but thanks to the atmosphere and spirit of the people inside.