{"id":21772,"date":"2025-03-20T16:45:34","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T15:45:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/het-element-a-school-that-grows-with-the-city\/"},"modified":"2026-05-08T13:41:41","modified_gmt":"2026-05-08T12:41:41","slug":"het-element-a-school-that-grows-with-the-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/het-element-a-school-that-grows-with-the-city\/","title":{"rendered":"Het Element: A school that grows with the city"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Educational architecture with vision<\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/strong><\/h2>\n\n
\"Het
Credit: Eva Bloem<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n

In the heart of the industrial area of Amersfoort<\/strong>, the vocational school Het Element<\/strong> is setting a standard for sustainable, flexible school construction. The compact new building combines two vocational schools, three sports halls, a dojo, and a language center across 12,000 square meters<\/strong>. However, the project is far more than just a functional building \u2013 it is intended to become a climate-conscious center for the Isselt district<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n

Spatial concept: Flexibility and identification<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

The school is organized around a light-filled center<\/strong>, which creates short distances and serves as a meeting place. The individual learning areas are housed in clubhouses<\/strong>, which are given their own identity through individual color and material concepts<\/strong>. This concept promotes students’ identification with their surroundings and simultaneously allows for a modulare expansion<\/strong> of the school. <\/p>\n\n

The universally usable column grid<\/strong> plays a special role, facilitating future repurposing. Architect Bart van Kampen<\/a><\/strong> describes the vision: “Our idea is: never demolish again<\/strong>. The supporting structure is designed so that the building can also be used as a commercial property, care facility, or residential building<\/strong> in the future.” <\/p>\n\n

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Sustainability as a principle<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

The compact construction reduces heat loss and lowers energy consumption. The facade of brick mosaics<\/strong> references the school’s vocational training areas, while interior wood paneling<\/strong> creates a warm atmosphere. The sawtooth roofs<\/strong> are reminiscent of the industrial surroundings while bringing plenty of daylight into the rooms. <\/p>\n\n

A particularly defining feature of the sustainable concept is the complete coverage of the roof with solar modules<\/strong>. This is complemented by durable materials such as concrete and aluminum windows<\/strong>, which keep maintenance requirements low. <\/p>\n\n

A new center for the neighborhood<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n

Het Element integrates into its surroundings not only functionally but also socially. The school grounds offer public green spaces<\/strong> and create a link between education and urban society<\/strong>. The field in front on Kaliumweg<\/strong>, which can be used in emergencies, has been converted into a public front garden<\/strong>. The side and rear areas have also been ecologically enhanced. <\/p>\n\n

Through these measures, the school actively contributes to the climate resilience of the district<\/strong> \u2013 a model for sustainable educational buildings that are adapted not only to the needs of today but also to the requirements of tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n

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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Het Element: A school that grows with the city
\nWith sustainable construction, flexible use, and a close connection to the neighborhood, Het Element in Amersfoort is becoming a model for the educational buildings of tomorrow.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21783,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_price":"","_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_header":"","_tribe_default_ticket_provider":"","_tribe_ticket_capacity":"0","_ticket_start_date":"","_ticket_end_date":"","_tribe_ticket_show_description":"","_tribe_ticket_show_not_going":false,"_tribe_ticket_use_global_stock":"","_tribe_ticket_global_stock_level":"","_global_stock_mode":"","_global_stock_cap":"","_tribe_rsvp_for_event":"","_tribe_ticket_going_count":"","_tribe_ticket_not_going_count":"","_tribe_tickets_list":"[]","_tribe_ticket_has_attendee_info_fields":false,"footnotes":"","_tec_slr_enabled":"","_tec_slr_layout":""},"categories":[90,99],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21772","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture","category-schulbau"],"acf":[],"ticketed":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21772","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21772"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21772\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21785,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21772\/revisions\/21785"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21772"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21772"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/schulbau.online\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21772"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}