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1619_KARREVELD 1
Adaptation of an existing office building into a secondary school

Location :
Molenbeek, Brussels
Category :
Completed
A school in movement

A school project is built step by step. In the case of the future school set to occupy the site of the Takeda former offices, it is also the reality of the building that will, step-by-step, evolve over the years.

This first phase of transformation is temporary. However, it must anticipate the future, permanent project, as well as gradual alterations of the building(s) during constructions. The project therefore reflects the character of transformation, evolution and dynamic equilibrium, which is also the objective of any form of teaching.

Like its pedagogy, the building seeks to be appropriable by students and teachers. The project proposes a series of one-off interventions that are mainly independent from one another. This elemental approach allows the project to evolve serenely in the shortest time possible.

Indeed, through discussions with the clients, it is decided that the elements should be easily modified, replaced, or abandoned, without the project as a whole suffering the consequences. This method allows to control costs and to manage the site more simply.


The project consists of 5 major interventions
1. indoor spaces
2. new entrance
3. emergency stairways
4. outdoor facilities
5. sanitary facilities

All interventions are designed with ambitions of flexibility and sustainability (in the broad sense of the word). Emphasis will be placed on the retrieval of existing elements from offices and the possible reuse of temporary construction elements. The purpose is for the school to gather and reinvent these building elements in the final construction project.