KEES BOEKE SCHOOL - architeria.eu

KEES BOEKE SCHOOL

The Workplace Community School, founded in 1926 by educational innovator Kees Boeke (b. 1884),
provides pre-school, primary and secondary education. The demand-driven education at this school
is all about developing self-reliance and it was this that became the main starting point for the design
of a new building containing facilities for secondary education.

The building was designed as an informal learning environment in which the customary arrangement of
identical classrooms along a corridor was abandoned in favour of a chain of different volumes and functions
and rooms that flow over into one another. This structure has no front or back; its appearance changes
with the wind direction. Despite this literal many-sidedness, the building is logically organized. A raised bridge,
followed by a long stair, provides a ‘circulation spine’ for movement through the building. The western
volume contains the ‘learning domains’, which are grouped around a closed courtyard. On the other side
of the open schoolyard is the eastern volume containing among other things the main entrance, the auditorium,
the theatre and the practical classrooms. This open, landscaped layout is well suited to the informal teaching
methods practised here while also ensuring that the school blends in with the natural, park-like surroundings.

Project data:
> Location: Bilthoven, The Netherlands
> Design: 2002
> Completion: 2006 – 2007 – 2008
> Surface area: 9200m2 education + 3200m2 sport + 1800m² BSO
> Cost: €14m (exc. VAT)
> Client: Stichting Werkplaats Kindergemeenschap, Gemeente de Bilt
> Contractor: Heijmerink bouw, Bunnink (school), Vaessen bouw, Raamsdonkveer (sport)
> Building management: Hilleger Bouwmanagement, Rotterdam