ABSTRACT
This school could be described as a natural development of the architect’s philosophy initiated in the 1980 Apollo 155Schools (see Chapter 1). Designed in 1993 and completed in 1996, the building displays its lineage as a progression from the original prototype; a villa-type cluster of vertically organized floors. Each of the two main levels comprises two sets of paired classrooms with a bathroom and quiet room sandwiched in between. There is a playroom at ground floor and a staffroom above. First Floor Plan (refer to key on page 156). https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_2_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
On the second floor, a homework room is provided for those children who need to remain after school hours. In addition, the entire school is open for most of the day and in the evening, for parent use. There is a surprising lack of overt security with access provided from three directions of the site. This is a factor of its open, contained internal volume, with many eyes controlling the space against the possibility of intrusion by strangers.
What makes this particularly effective is the flexibility enabled by openable screen walls linking classroom spaces at ground floor to the hall. The ground floor opens up to become a transparent volume melting into the surrounding gardens. This is a surprising transformation from the cellular nature of the normal closed classroom arrangement.
The architecture evokes the language of its surrounding housing blocks with their Corbusian aesthetic of white rendered walls and horizontal ‘ribbon’ windows. Yet here the form is different enough both in terms of scale and shape to announce its status as a public building. Each element of the programme is expressed, with two great curved roofs looping over the top of the internal hall. Its sophisticated form language is derivative of Gerrit Rietveld. Second Floor plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_3_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
156The orientation of each classroom is carefully choreographed to optimize sun penetration with a largely glazed wall to the north-facing playroom, and shaded corner window openings to the south and west. It is a beautifully clear and rational school building, the result of many years of thought and development along similar lines. It synthesizes small-scale domestic forms with larger scale institutional volumes to create a hybrid school of great sophistication Site plan. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_4_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Section. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_5_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> Sketch sections and axonometrics: the designer grappling with the integration of two forms, the classroom blocks and the arched roof shape. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_6_B.tif" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Photo: © Architectuurstudio Herman Hertzberger.) Interior view. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_7a_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Photo: © Architectuurstudio Herman Hertzberger.) Exterior view. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_7b_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/> (Photo: © Architectuurstudio Herman Hertzberger.)
These views show the marriage between the form and its use: the staircase and balconies beneath the great industrial roof form a safe enclosed public space; from the playground the image can be interpreted on two levels, one of clear uncompromising technology, a space-ship, on the other a home from home, intimate and friendly. The Schroeder House in Utrecht, Holland, by Gerrit Rietveld (1928), inspiration for much of Hertzberger's school architecture. https://s3-euw1-ap-pe-df-pch-content-public-p.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/9780080499291/f70b01ec-99da-4e86-a882-bbb9f643b2de/content/figcs6_8_C.jpg" xmlns:xlink="https://www.w3.org/1999/xlink"/>
