Frank Hermanns
Designschule in Maastricht. FH Aachen (Germany)
Due to the renewal of the Maastricht-Lüttich Waterway, the former industrial estate at the so called ´Bassin` in Maastricht will become a centre of public life. A modern design-school is going to be built on a present car park of a paper-mill at the corner of the Maasboulevard and the Waterway. Despite the internal curriculum the design-school should contribute to the cultural life at the Bassin.
At present the site is situated in a hollow. A new topography is designed to connect the different existing levels so the new building will be relative to the future neighbourhood. A base which mirrors the existing Quays on the other side of the water lifts the entrance up to the level of the Maasboulevard. At the western side of the building the workshops are straight at the water-edge, reminding of the history of the Bassin as an industrial port.
The ceiling of the auditorium in the centre becomes a landscape of meeting-, seating- and exhibition-platforms. From there ways scatter to the different rooms and classes. In connection with the atrium above this landscape is the emotional heart of the school. On the upper floors there are two angular structures. To the north-west there is a narrow angle of low storeys to accommodate smaller units like offices and student-workspaces. To the south-west, classes and ateliers as well as the exhibition-room and the café require larger rooms of sufficient heights.
Each of both cubatures is supplied with toilets and fire-escape-stairs. A lift and stairs work as linking elements between the split-levels of the upper floors. An open staircase and meeting-boxes are suspended from the atrium-roof. A reinforced concrete structure is wrapped around the building. Transparent and non-transparent façade-elements are placed in different grids. The façade-arrangement accentuates the opening of the school to the Bassin.
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