AHI Architectural Heritage Intervention

“Contributing to enhancing our heritage, as the way forward for 21 st Century architecture is our raison d’être; to emphasize a diverse, rich vision that necessarily complements the intervention is our mission, and achieving it with reflexive and purposeful efforts is the challenge”.

This project, founded in, and directed since, 2011 by Ramon Calonge, Oriol Cusidó, Marc Manzano and Jordi Portal, architects and members of the Group of Architects for the Defence and Intervention in Architectural Heritage (AADIPA), has, through the years become a platform that includes four actions that are both independent and transversal.
 
The European Award, a biennial event that brings together and showcases the multiple approaches of intervention in Europe.

The International Biennial, a framework that serves to compare and gain closer insight of quality interventions in architectural heritage in non-European countries.

The digital Archive, a live and open window that provides a panoramic view of interventions in the history of our surroundings.

The Forum, a meeting place where you can participate in on-going debates about the main preoccupations and lines of thought about interventions in architectural heritage in Europe.

Return

Straf! School met lef

Straf! School met lef

The Straf! School combines kindergarten and primary school and is housed in the former bathing halls of the Beringen coal mine. This is one of the largest and best-preserved mining sites of Europe. Safeguarding the expression of the existing building was prioritized in the design. The new program benefits from the generous space available inside and outside the existing building. On the ground floor, the kindergarten is housed. An existing overhang protects the terrace and creates a protected outdoor space. The primary school is situated on the first floor. A large staircase – the most prominent design intervention – connects the school to the playground and can be used as a theater. In one of the corner wings, the staff room is situated on the second floor, overlooking the site 270°. In close consultation with the Heritage Agency, we designed the layout of the outside area as a palimpsest. This former marshalling yard next to the coal washing plant, became a natural playground; between the vegetation, you see the old metal tracks.

Author

a2o architecten
AAC architecture

Collaborators

Jo Berben, Kris Buysmans, Stefaan Evers, Bart Hoylaerts, Jonas Knapen, Ingrid Mees, Killian Nekeman, Wout Sorgeloos, Luc Vanmuysen, Jan Laute, Marc Vande Perre

Edition

6
Shortlisted

Year

2021

City

Beringen

Country

Belgium

Surface area sqm

5.163

Cost €

5.355.105

Client

Public

Original Programme

Industrial

Programme

Education

© Photographer

Stijn Bollaert

Períod

Eclecticism

Type of intervention

Transformation

Level of intervention

Total / Integral