ATAMA

School Zottegem 2018

The design offers an environment where pupils, teachers and visitors feel safe but also challenged, on their way to personal development and development in a group. The answer was found in the landscape, a peaceful natural environment that houses adventure and discoveries. The school does not cut up this open space. In the master plan, the school is placed on the edge of the open space, in line with the existing school, and opens up to a playground that makes use of the strong topography.

A gently sloping wooden roof that cantilevers all sides is the basic figure of the school. An outdoor playground and large collective spaces in the interior are sheltered there. Light is piercing through the roof along specific openings. The learning environment is not built up according to a traditional concept of classrooms that are assigned to specific ages. Instead, children of different ages find each other and their teachers in spaces that can be arranged flexibly and in circulation spaces that are scaled up and provided with adapted furniture, under the generous roof. A small theatre is detached from the school. Between school and landscape, this is a place where children can show off their talents to anyone who wants to hear it, during and after school hours.

Model

atelier for transformative architecture & masterplanning