Primary school Het Galjoen

Bricks like big “LEGO” stones
The location for the primary-school is a square where a 6 meter tall energy-plant building is present. This prominent and somehow aggressive building creates many “rest-spaces” in the location which do not offer complete visibility of the area. The area is often expose to vandalism. The objective is to design a building that improves the character of the location, generates agreeable and secure playgrounds and integrates with the existing housing of the neighbourhood. The school will have a friendly “face” which will make the presence of the power-plant less strong. Like a big “Lego” animal, the school is built with big format bricks, 290mm x 90mm x 90mm. De minimalized detailing and the use of one single colour for all constructive elements, make the shape of the building stronger. Because of the sun-orientation, the presence of the power-plant, and the need of concentration in the class-rooms, these are all turned to the back garden. To avoid a non-communicative image, big windows were designed at strategic places in order to resemble the “eyes and mouth” of the play-animal. This bigger openings correspond to play-rooms and, as a display, expose the life inside the building.

http://www.dezeen.com/2012/05/31/galjoen-school-by-rocha-tombal/
http://clay-wienerberger.com/brick-award

Program | 10 Class-rooms, play-hall and facility’s, 1140 m2
Client | Stichting Haagse Scholen, The Hague
Construction | Pieters Bouwtechniek, Delft
Contractor | Vink Bouw, Nieuwkoop
Photography | Christian Richters, Bart van Hoek, I. Wozniakowska
Architecture | Ana Rocha and Michel Tombal (Rocha Tombal architecten) with Iwona Wozniakowska, Elena Cabrera Vacas, Volker Goldstein, Enrique Neira, Igor Lopez de Uralde, Bettina Herb