Concrete and aluminium vertical lines

In the 1950s, the young architect Johannes Bernardus designed a new HBS (high school) building on Jan van Eijckstraat in Amsterdam Zuid. In 2000, approximately half a century later, St. Ignatius grammar school moved into the, by then, dated building. The building underwent a minor facelift, but in 2004 the then school head Hans Buijze asked LEVS to provide a more radical solution. The challenge was to realize an extensive programme on a relatively small site in a characteristic residential district that is part of Berlage’s Plan Zuid. LEVS came up with a plan for extension and modification. They built a new building on the site of the school’s former gymnasium and carried out a large-scale renovation of the old building.

The forms and materials are different but the rhythm and colour of the elevations are similar. The old building has concrete trusses that emphasize the vertical lines. In the new building, these lines are marked with aluminium frames around the masonry, while the concrete here is in horizontal bands underneath the windows. A glazed atrium connects old and new. Transparent classrooms, in between which are study areas and staff rooms, create openness. The interior courtyard between the wings is a sheltered meeting place where students also have access to a bicycle storage facility in an old underground bunker. The new gymnasium and a music room are also located underground, underneath the new wing. The school building is sustainable in every respect: it has an A energy label and was awarded monument status while construction work was still underway.