A question of give and take

TRANSFORMATION

How do you transform an abandoned school building that is more than a hundred years old into a modern student housing complex? This was the challenge facing Gertjan Vlaar (Butzelaar CS Architecten) and Harold Janssen (SATIJNplus Architecten). ‘We didn’t want to just use the building, but wanted to give it something in return.’

‘When we removed the dropped ceiling, we discovered stunning trusses in the attic.’

The architects closely studied the 1909 design. ‘What’s striking is that the design was completed pretty much in one go, which makes the building’s history very clear’, says Harold Janssen. ‘We started by stripping out the elements that were of no value in order to get to the historic essence. For instance, when we removed the dropped ceiling, we discovered stunning trusses in the attic. These elements enhance the experience, so naturally you want to keep them.’ Old layers of paint were scraped away to reveal the original colour palette. ‘We restored those colours. On the ground floor in particular, red and green add richness.’

Accessible space ‘Both the original and the new target group of the building can be seen as a kind of community. Because of that, we found that the existing structures could still be useful for the transformation into student housing. In our design, we searched for an accessible look and building layout appropriate to its future residents’, says Gertjan Vlaar.

‘We didn’t just want to use the building, but wanted to give something back to it.’

‘We didn’t just want to use the building, but wanted to give something back to it’, Janssen continues. ‘Residents approach the building from the inner courtyard, where various entrances have been established. This creates a new kind of dynamic in and around the building.’ The focal point of the complex remains the chapel in the inner courtyard, which now plays an important role as a communal study and meeting place for students.

Different chapters

The main entrance as it was originally conceived remains in use. On the Tongerseweg side, some changes have been made to the railings. ‘Relocating the gate makes the complex more accessible to visitors from the street side’, Vlaar explains. ‘The landscape designer has also restored the openness of the front of the building, which can be seen in the original plans.

On the exterior, little seems to have changed at first glance. ‘That’s right’, says Vlaar. ‘We wanted to preserve the original appearance of the building as much as possible. The new use of the complex adds a layer to this. The repeating nature of the rooms, for instance, is reinforced by the window openings in the façade. You can interpret the façade as a book with several chapters: the original building, changes made as it was repurposed over the years, and its new role as student housing.’

‘We wanted to preserve the original appearance of the building as much as possible.’