Atelier PRO designs compact community school in Genderen

Atelier PRO won the selection for the design of a new community school in Genderen. The building will house three different users: elementary school Het Fundament, day-care centre Camelot and a library for the Gemeente Altena. We opted for a compact layout with modular dimensions - not only for reasons of sustainability, but also to be cost efficient. In addition, atelier PRO also carefully examined the phasing of the building process. Because temporary housing for schools is very costly, we developed a plan where the current school building will be partially retained during the building process, with the day-care being built in a second phase.

The new building will replace an existing school from the 1980s, in a small-scale residential area, and is carefully fitted into its surroundings in terms of scale, design and materialisation. Moreover, atelier PRO also paid close attention to the synergy between the various users, both in the process ánd in the building. The three-winged layout provides the school with a 'heart'; at the same time, this shape also creates a variety of outdoor spaces, allowing us, among other things, to add a ‘play-and learn-forest’.