Focus on people, site and the environment

With a focus on people, site and the environment, children from the local area benefit from a building that is not only environmentally friendly, but additionally provides a positive spatial and psychological environment in support of their development and education. Architecturally, a multi-purpose playroom plays a key role in the design with a colourful aluminium curtain wall and a large floating canopy covering part of the play area. This helps in creating a transition between the existing school building, the playground at the heart of the project and the new building, thus enhancing the complex as a whole.

Inverted aluminium curtain wall

Certainly, the most striking architectural feature of the design is the colourful aluminium curtain wall with its horizontal window profiles. As a feature, it makes the school an instantly recognizable and a prominent presence in the neighbourhood. Delobelle architects explain they opted for horizontal profile lines to best blend with the surroundings and furthermore achieve a scale that is comprehensible for children. A vertical structure by contrast would have placed too much emphasis on the height of the building, the architects explain.

In order to guarantee the architectural strength of the design, the technical studies department of Reynaers Aluminium and the aluminium fabricator De Paepe faced the challenge of fitting the curtain wall profiles horizontally for this project. In other words, fitting the profiles on their side, whereas traditionally they would be installed vertically. In addition to this complex and unconventional installation, the standard vertical drainage systems also had to be adapted to the horizontal orientation. The resulting so-called 'inverted curtain wall' by Reynaers Aluminium is therefore innovative from both the architectural and the technical point of view.