Hoornbeeck.

Education.

Size5.720 m²
Year2017
StatusCompleted
LocationRotterdam, the Netherlands
51.885900, 4.483071
ArchitectMachiel Hopman

Creating a new building where old and new come together. Where architecture and religion meet and complement each other.

After researching the 17th century theologian Johannes Hoornbeeck, we discoverd paintings of contemporaries of Hoornbeek, such as Frans Hals and especially the fine drawings and paintings of church interiors by Pieter Jansz Saenredam. He inspired us to use line perspective and clear open spaces in which the bright light plays a leading role.

By applying line accents we have connected important spaces with each other and structure and openness. In the façade, the lines are set in the traditional masonry. It consists of various brickwork patterns (standing, tile bonding etc), resulting in optimal horizontal lines and layering in the new façade. The hand-made brick used with its mottled oker yellow color enhances the traditional character of the building.

Masonry

The characteristic of the exterior is the ocher-yellow brickwork. The color of the stone stands out in an environment with grayed-up building blocks.

The façade is optically divided into several layers with different masonry structures. The plinth of the building consists of standing, staggered masonry in tile context. Under and above it is enclosed by a roll layer.

Above the plinth, completely flat and the horizontally staggered layers alternate each floor. The flat parts are bricked in half-brickwork. The bricked piers, between the staggered frames – with seemingly randomly changing widths – were again executed in a tile masonry connection, offset per layer.

Only in the interior of the classrooms is it clear in the pattern of light lines and ceiling plates that the frames and pegs are part of a fixed size system. The light lines are either on the heart of a penant or in the heart of the window opening.

Window to the world

In order to make the auditorium as multifunctional as possible, together with engineering firm IMD, we introduced a 2-storey truss to enable the auditorium to be completely columnless.

The large windows frame the outside world and places the reformational educational community in the world.