The free primary school De Knipoog is located in Rummen, Flemish Brabant. It is a real village school with around 180 students. What makes this school so unique is that everyone knows each other personally.
The prefab buildings in which the classrooms were housed no longer met contemporary standards and were also physically outdated. It was decided to demolish the school and build a whole new school: a primary school and a kindergarten that are connected. In 2014, the first phase, the primary school, was delivered by architecture firm Joris Gijsenberg. The concept plan opted for a central circulation area with limited external walls.
The board wanted to illuminate the circulation area in a sustainable way. The architect chose to use Solatube daylight systems combined with controlled artificial lighting. Bringing daylight in through the deep construction from the roof down to a lowered ceiling was a challenge, however Solatubes are the ideal solution for this. The resulting daylight reduces energy costs and provides a healthy indoor climate for young students which promotes the ability to concentrate and therefore improves student productivity.
The Solatubes give us a lot of pleasant light, I think this is great. It is a nice ecological solution for our school.
