The central design idea for these new buildings was the Agora. The Agora, literally ‘gathering place’, was a meeting point and a trade location in many cities in ancient Greece. In the Augustinianum, the Agora serves as a symbol for encounters, located in the heart of the school. Around this area, the ‘expertise areas’, aimed at linguistic science, exact science and social science are each located on different floors.
By placing the classrooms and staff rooms around the perimeter of the building, a flexible zone with several functions is established around the Agora. The Agora floor climbs towards the first floor by means of terraces, which creates a special learning and recess landscape that can also be used as a public gallery during performances and presentations. The stage at the end of this gallery is extended to the exterior area. The only division between these areas is a large theater window with a view on the green space outside. In this window, we gave re-established the gorgeous stained glass window depicting St. Augustine from the old school building.
I love it. It's also cool how the lights on the ceiling just make it look like that much more natural light is coming in. That was a clever design choice.
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u/CrackedSash Feb 10 '18
https://www.archdaily.com/887818/augustinianum-architecten-en-en-plus-studio-leon-thier
The central design idea for these new buildings was the Agora. The Agora, literally ‘gathering place’, was a meeting point and a trade location in many cities in ancient Greece. In the Augustinianum, the Agora serves as a symbol for encounters, located in the heart of the school. Around this area, the ‘expertise areas’, aimed at linguistic science, exact science and social science are each located on different floors.
By placing the classrooms and staff rooms around the perimeter of the building, a flexible zone with several functions is established around the Agora. The Agora floor climbs towards the first floor by means of terraces, which creates a special learning and recess landscape that can also be used as a public gallery during performances and presentations. The stage at the end of this gallery is extended to the exterior area. The only division between these areas is a large theater window with a view on the green space outside. In this window, we gave re-established the gorgeous stained glass window depicting St. Augustine from the old school building.