Conversion of an office building into a secondary school using the Freinet active teaching method

The school accommodates approximately 550 pupils, divided into 24 classes, in a total area of 6,050 m². The school occupies the southern half of the postmodern complex built by Assar Architects in the early 1990s, located along the Chaussée de Wavre and centred on the north side around the ‘communal square’ of Auderghem.

The part of the building occupied by the school consists of two wings separated by a large atrium and connected on either side by walkways containing the stairwells.

The architectural characteristics of the building and its physical realities – a lack of light and openness to the outside for half of each wing on the one hand, and inadequate vertical circulation for a school on the other – guided the essential elements of the project's architectural approach :

- The classrooms are located on the exterior side of the building. On the interior side, facing the atrium, the classroom distribution areas have been generously sized to allow for a variety of activities: inter-class workshops, play and relaxation areas, group work, etc. These spaces, designed as an extension of the classrooms, are open and free for the school to use, adaptable according to the age of the pupils, the classes they serve, class projects, etc.

- The installation of a double staircase in the atrium to facilitate movement between the different floors. The building will thus be refocused around the atrium, which will become the school's forum.

- The transformation of the former car park on the ground floor into a relaxation area, the ‘play area’, a kind of covered courtyard designed for ‘active’ games.