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In the heart of Sint-Pieters-Leeuw, the Den Top municipal elementary school received a new building that cleverly responds to the relief of the site. The building sinks with the landscape, allowing maximum glazing of the ground floor. In this way, the school does not form a visual barrier, but the green view towards the fields behind is fully preserved. Inside and outside flow smoothly into one another, with a playing meadow open to the landscape.
The building gets its character from the profiled steel plates on canopies and skylights, and from the aligned steel columns that structure the entire school like a clear grid. The eye-catcher is the conical canopy – a playful and sculptural element that literally refers to the name Den Top. Below this “top” is a round concrete pedestal as a seating and play area, sheltered from rain and wind. At night, the cone is illuminated from within, creating a warm and recognizable beacon.
The school is constructed from a careful combination of robust, low-maintenance materials. Hot-dip galvanized steel was chosen as a low-maintenance, durable and natural material with an industrial look, different patinas and a varying sheen due to sunlight. All galvanized materials, with their industrial gray tones, are also very much in harmony with the gray fiber cement sheets for finishing roof edges, the anthracite-colored jointless facing brick, the industrial gray exposed concrete, and the natural-colored anodized aluminum joinery. Moreover, galvanized steel is exceptionally resistant to corrosion, which in a school environment – with intensive use and few maintenance options – is a great asset.
