--- title: "The end of the school corridor" url: "https://www.stylepark.com/en/news/nl-architects-primary-school-kindergarten-knokke" language: "en" type: "article" description: "Read more about the a school and kindergarten building by NL Architects in the Belgium town of Knokke, in which all corridors are for playing and learning." published: "2017-10-14T00:00:00+02:00" modified: "2017-10-16T11:42:22+02:00" authors: ["Fabian Peters"] image: "https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_fit_center-center_90_none/TS_QF_Knokke2.jpg" --- ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_01.jpg) The pavilion-like building by NL Architects in Knokke houses a primary school and a kindergarten. Photo: Marcel van der Burg # The end of the school corridor NL Architects have designed a kindergarten and primary school complex in Knokke in Belgium that certainly stands the usual school hierarchy on its head. by Fabian Peters | 10/14/2017 “De Vonk” means “spark” and is the name of the new play-and-education campus in Knokke, Belgium. The low complex of buildings on the outskirts of a chic seaside resort, out where the houses give way to fields, is home to a kindergarten and a primary school. The ensemble was designed by Amsterdam’s NL Architects, who won this year’s Mies van der Rohe Awards. ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_02.jpg) Roof lanscape: the grass roof on the left is part of the primary school, the turrets are roof windows, the higher building in the centre is the multifunctional hall. Photo: Marcel van der Burg From the outside it all seems familiar: a single-storey pavilion architecture, with an anodized metal façade, large French windows, with a wraparound outside sheltered walkway made of prefabricated concrete. In the middle stands a raised cubic structure round which the other building sections have been arranged. The largest of these wings is crowned by a greened roof shaped like an inverted funnel. ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_03.jpg) Mind the step: the class rooms floors lie lower then those of the adjoining walkway. The wooden sills serve as seats. Photo: Marcel van der Burg The complex is surrounded on all sides by playgrounds, green zones and gardens, and interfaces with them thanks to the French windows and the covered walkway. If you step indoors from one of the walkways you notice that the entire building has been slightly sunk into the ground: Floor level is a good bit below the level of the grounds. The wooden window sills have been broadened to form benches. And a little further along you soon notice the next key design feature: In this building the architects have almost completely dispensed with corridors. They achieve this by broadening almost every access route such that it can be used as a communication area or as a learning or play zone. ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_04.jpg) Look from the ambulatory in the multifunctional hall Photo: Marcel van der Burg To this end they have organized the building’s four main functions – primary school, kindergarten, admin and the school cafeteria – around the central multifunctional hall, which serves among others as the break-time room, sports hall and aula. It is higher than the other components. A strip of windows beneath the ceiling lets daylight in. The architects have created a large playground area between the hall itself and the building wings, with the hall’s wooden-paneled outside walls functioning as a “programmed wall”. It features seating niches of various shapes as well as book and magazine shelves. ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_05.jpg) Under the grass roof the primary school has a podium with a play- and learning area on top. Photo: Marcel van der Burg The spatial organization of the building wings is derived from their respective functions: The primary school classrooms are arranged around a central plaza that can serve either learning or play. Here, the central element is a large podium beneath the afore-mentioned funnel-shaped roof section. At its base are sanitary facilities and storerooms, and on it there are group and single-person work spaces beneath a large skylight. High stairs also form a small auditorium. Like the multi-purpose hall, you can walk right round the podium, so there are no “dead corners” and cul-de-sacs. ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_06.jpg) The central play "road" of the kindergarten. Photo: Marcel van der Burg In the kindergarten wing the group rooms are instead accessed from a long “play street” with several smaller skylights. Double-wing glass doors foster a sense of transparency between the two areas. The “street” culminates in an exit to the kindergarten playground. A large canopy roof ensures outside and inside interact and creates a break space that is protected against the elements. - [NL Architects](http://www.nlarchitects.nl) ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_07.jpg) Look inside the primary school: the class rooms on the left, on the right the central podium Photo: Marcel van der Burg ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_08.jpg) Auditorium at the primary school Photo: Marcel van der Burg ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_09.jpg) The "programmed wall" with niches for sitting Photo: Marcel van der Burg ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_10.jpg) Window of the "programmed wall" Photo: Marcel van der Burg ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_11.jpg) The multifunctional hall Photo: Marcel van der Burg ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/NL-Architects_Knokke_Stylepark_12.jpg) The kindergarten's playground Photo: Marcel van der Burg ![NL Architects, Knokke, school, Stylepark](https://www.stylepark.com/assets/transformations/articles/_1410xAUTO_crop_center-center_82_none/Knokke17b.jpg) Model of the play-and-education campus: primary school on the left, kindergarten on the right Photo: NL Architects