Technical School in Londerzeel

The construction of the extension of the Technical Institute in the Flemish town of Londerzeel has successfully created a sculptural building, clad in a red clinker façade that immediately captures our attention. The well-insulated outer envelope serves as a foundation for maintaining the standard of a passive house. Due to its striking shape, the new building draws attention in the neighborhood – and thanks to the well-insulated clinker façade, it meets the passive house standard.

The region of Flanders in northern Belgium is currently ensuring energy refurbishment and expansion of a total of 165 schools in its administrative area as part of the Scholen van Morgen (Schools of Tomorrow) program. The pilot project of this initiative is the expansion of the Technical Institute from the 1970s in the Flemish municipality of Londerzeel. According to the plans of the TEEMA Architecten office, the new construction has been completed, which expands the current workshops of the institute with additional classrooms and modern laboratories. All rooms are accessed through a new entrance space and a central foyer with a cafeteria. In addition to the gymnasium and an open learning center, the architects also integrated a new multipurpose room for hosting various events into the core of the new building. This space, as well as the gymnasium and the open area in front of the school, can also be used by local residents. The architects designed a façade made of fired bricks for the sculptural building, which has a partially striking slanted striped design. This creates a clear connection to the original building with a clinker façade. Beneath the façade lies high-quality insulation, which is the basis for achieving the passive house standard.

Investor: Public-private partnership between the Flemish government, AG Real Estate, and BNP Paribas Fortis
Architect: TEEMA architecten bvba, Brasschaat, BE
Location: Daalkouter, Londerzeel, BE

Competence of Sto
insulation façade system (StoTherm Vario) with clinker in the StoBrick variant

Execution company: Quality Wall bvba, Hansbeke, BE
Photographs: Dennis De Smet, Ghent, BE; TEEMA, Brasschaat, BE