This former school building was built in the 1930s in the Amsterdam School style. The building housed the Sint Theodorus School for boys and the Maria School for girls.
The redevelopment design attempts to strike a balance between the architectural and historical quality of the existing building and the necessary modifications to create luxury apartments within it. The defining architectural elements have been left intact and the existing structure has been followed as closely as possible. The monumental character of the front facade is respected through the restoration and preservation of the original elements. The new entrance in the middle of the building has been created in harmony with the existing facade.
The characteristic 1930s school on Roerstraat is in several respects a remarkable candidate for the New Construction Award. First of all because no actual new construction took place here (yet again). Although converting an old school into nineteen homes is quite a major intervention. The client is also striking: ING Real Estate, a developer you would sooner expect to find near the towers on the Zuidas than in this type of renovation. But that is a misconception, explains project developer Walther van Leeuwe (32).
“With our housing department, we are very active in the city, for example in IJburg and at Overhoeks,” he says. “This project fits in seamlessly with our objective: to create a place where people enjoy staying. We were able to give an existing building a new function. Furthermore, with such high quality that we received a GIW certificate—the new construction quality mark—as the first renovation project.”
For this job, an architectural firm (Braaksma & Roos) and a contractor (Scheurer) were brought in, both of whom have extensive experience in restoration work. “Our specialty is the redevelopment of buildings in culturally and historically sensitive locations,” says 38-year-old architect Marianne van der Sanden. She chose to incorporate the wide school corridors into the homes, which meant a new stairwell (with elevator) had to be constructed in the middle of the building. The standard home, a former classroom plus corridor, measures 75 square meters and cost 235,000 euros, while the largest ones on the attic floor measure 135 square meters and sold for 435,000 euros.
"When we registered for this project, we were number seventy," says Bas Hoogerhuis (34), who also has a garden behind his home downstairs. "But we were lucky. It's wonderful living here."
The delivery did not go smoothly, but Hoogerhuis calls that understandable in such an existing building. For the jury that compiled the top ten, those delivery complaints are clearly a drawback. However, that is offset by the wonderful variety of homes behind the original school facade, according to the five jury members. Plus the attractive details, such as the authentic stained-glass windows.
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