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IJburg College

This is a project by LIAG architects and it is located at Amsterdam, Netherlands. Project's program: New school, sports facility and housing. There are five images for IJburg College.

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Project details

Project name: IJburg College
Location: Amsterdam, Netherlands
Program: New school, sports facility and housing
Area: Project Size: school 11,430 m2, sports 3,007 m2, parking 8,020 m2 and 23 apartments
Year: Completion: 2011
Client: HEVO B. V.
Project by: LIAG architects
Team: Principal Designer: Erik Schotte • Design Team: Pivo Wirfler, Carel Van Kuijk, Harmen Landman, Martin Pasman, Thomas Witteman

Project images

Designer's statement

IJburg: new island, new neighbourhood, new education. For IJburg College, an opportunity to structure the education as effectively as possible in the new accommodation under the motto “learning in a learning community. ” IJburg College is a community school with a diverse intersectoral curriculum for preparatory secondary vocational education and enhanced language, art, culture and sports programmes at the senior general secondary and pre-university education levels, with intensive cooperation with various expertise centres. The structure comprises three sub-schools in order to preserve the small-scale character, with one school for each two school years. The building is more than a school, however; it also provides the neighbourhood with room for a café, theatre, gym, health centre and underground parking.

The building appears as a "jolt" providing a strong impulse to its surroundings. Due to this recognisability, the building strengthens and expands the social cohesion in the area. In addition to a powerful expression, an ideal building must be sufficiently transparent and accessible. The IJburg College is very inviting, making users eager to enter. This is important because the facility also serves a cultural function for the local community.

There is a great deal of daylight in the building, as its centre is a large empty space. Because everything is so light and open, employees and students in the school can view what is happening elsewhere in the building, but they can also be seen while they are at work. Classrooms are designed to be as open as possible. The building has no corridors, a design that reflects the educational concept. Without corridors, people do not go astray; they are always in view. Contact is consequently stimulated in the best possible manner. Evidence of this concept is discernible throughout the entire design. Each component school has its own courtyard that acts as a "meeting place", or else a learning area. Each is, in a certain sense, a small school within the school. Classrooms are located around courtyards, thus guaranteeing the small-scale feeling of the facility.