Intro
The Emile Bockstael School is a nursery school of the City of Brussels. The building is entirely constructed in timber and meets passive standards. It offers a sustainable and enriching environment to 280 students, with 24 classrooms, a daycare centre, a multimedia area, a vegetable garden, a patio, etc.
- Client(s)
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- City of Brussels
- Architects
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- Nimptsch Architekten
- Bureau Bouwtechniek
- Stats
- 280 students
- 3108 m²
- 10 kWh/m²/year
Story
This comfortable, sustainable and secure teaching environment is above all a result of integrated design, with an intense interaction between architecture, building services and structural engineering.
The Emile Bockstael nursery school consists of three floors for 280 preschoolers, and is built to meet the Passive Standards. This implies that the energy consumption is greatly minimized, 10 kWh/m²/year, amongst others by means of extensive insulation and an excellent airtightness.
In addition, in winter passive solar gains are maximized through large, south facing glass areas. Flexible solar shading is installed for the summer season. Attention is also paid to the materials. Thus, the school is built of solid wood, which remains visible on the inside.
Maximum energy is recovered from ventilation air by using mechanical ventilation. With an air/water heat pump, the air is pre-heated in winter, powered by photovoltaic cells. An air/soil heat exchanger provides passive cooling in summer. The ventilation air change rate is adjusted according to the occupation of a room, which can quite vary especially in the class rooms. Finally, the lighting is equipped with occupancy sensors and daylight dimming.
In September 2011, this project was shortlisted by 2020Challenge. This competition awards the most innovative, sustainable projects of Belgian engineering companies. Before that, in 2007, the Brussels Environmental Institute had already proclaimed the school as an Exemplary Building.
This comfortable, sustainable and secure teaching environment is above all a result of integrated design, with an intense interaction between architecture, building services and structural engineering.
- VK Architects & Engineers
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